Abstract

PHARMACOGNOSTICAL INVESTIGATION OF LEAVES AND TUBER OF Brachystelma malwanense S. R. YADAV & N. P. SINGH: A WILD EDIBLE PLANT

Seema R. More* and Varsha D. Jadhav

ABSTRACT

The present paper deals with pharmacognostical study on tuber of Brachystelma malwanense belongs to family Asclepiadaceae and commonly called as ‘Gailya’. It grows on hilly region and grass platue. Its tuber an edible, nutritious and plant possess medicinal property; due to the dual significance in traditional system of medicine the plant B. malwanense selected for present investigation. The tubers and leaves of B. malwanense was extracted with different solvents and screened for their phytochemical constituents. Powder behaviour revealed the presence of starch, flavonoides, xanthoprotein, cystine, steroids, glycosides, tannin and proteins have been detected. Moisture content of this tuber and leaf was 90.27, 94.20 % of Fresh wt.; dry matter is 9.73, 5.80 % Fresh wt. respectively. The stomatal index was 12.29 on adaxial and 18.38 on abaxial of leaf and vein let termination number 13.33 while vein termination number was 5.33. The behaviour of powder drug with different chemical reagents and its fluorescence analysis were done. Macro and microscopic characters will be helpful for correct botanical identification of the drug. The results of phytochemical screening of crude extracts from tuber and leaf showed the presence of bioactive substances that can be used in prevention of some diseases.

Keywords: Brachystelma malwanense, Tuber, Leaf, Pharmacognosy.