PHARMACOGNOSTICAL AND PHYSICO-CHEMICAL EVALUATION OF AN INDO-SRI LANKAN ETHNOMEDICINAL PLANT SPECIES POLYALTHIA KORINTI (DUNAL) BENTH. & HOOK. F.

Polyalthia korinti (Dunal) Benth. & Hook. F. is a rare Indo – Sri Lankan species of Annonaceae family and are traditionally used by tribal people of Ghats region, India for treating several ailments. The number of mature plants and the area of its distribution are too low and this species is placed under the vulnerable critically endangered category. The present study deals with the pharmacognostic and physicochemical evaluations of the leafy part of this plant and was undertaken as an initial step to aid in documentation, quality assurance, proper identification etc. and appropriately to investigate the plant material for its ethanomedicinal claims. Macro and micro morphological parameters of leaf and dried leaves powder were set down following standard procedures recommended by Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Macroscopic study of leaf revealed some of the characteristic features like size, shape and color and in microscopic study internal characteristic features like epidermis, cortex, xylem, phloem, trichomes, and stomata were noted. Physicochemical parameters like total ash value, water soluble ash, acid insoluble ash, sulphated ash, foreign organic matter content, moisture content and crude fiber content were determined. Fluorescence analysis with various reagents showed characteristic coloration at day (visible light) and under UV light. Extractive values showed that the methanol soluble phytoconstituents were high compared to other solvents. This study thus lays down the pharmacognostic and physicochemical standardization parameters of the Polyalthia korinti leaf for the first time to serve the identification and quality control purposes.