Abstract

PHARMACOGNOSTICAL AND PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF ROOTS OF SECHIUM EDULE (JACQ.)SW

Bapi Ray Sarkar* and Prof. Dr. Biplab Kumar Dey

ABSTRACT

Plants have been an exemplary source of medicine since ancient age. Ayurveda and other Indian literature mention the use of plants in treatment of various human ailments. India has about 45000 plant species and among them, several thousands have been claimed to possess medicinal properties. From the ancient time and in the absence of reliable liver protective drugs in allopathic medical practices, the plants from different families have been used in herbal formulations for the treatment of liver disorder.[2] The selected plant Sechium edule belonging to family Cucurbitaceae , grown up in many regions of the world preferably between 800 and 1800 m altitude. In many regions there are variants adapted to cultivation at sea leveland traditionally used to treat various diseases.[5] Though the plant is native to South Africa but, in India, it is widely cultivated in the Meghalaya and Sikkim at elevation of 850m-1700 m and in some parts of West Bengal and Assam. Traditionally it is reported that juice from the leaves of the plant from Sechium edule from Cucurbitaceae family used for the treatment of various kind of liver disorder. So in the present study been made to evaluate the pharmacognostical and phytochemical parameters of roots of Sechium edule. The identification and authentification of the plant material taxonomically and pharmacognostically is important to standardized and also to avoid spurious or adulterated drugs and phytochemical analysis is also important to find out the presence of active constituents present in the roots of Sechium edule.

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