PHARMACOGNOSTICAL STANDARDIZATION OF TERMINALIA CHEBULARETZ. AND WRIGHTIA TINCTORIA (ROXB.) R. BR.

The present study was undertaken to establish pharmacognostical standards for the fruit of Terminalia chebula and the leaf of Wrightia tinctoria, the major medicinal plant used in many Ayurvedic preparation, in order to ensure their proper identification, authentication, and quality assessment. There is a lacuna in the comprehensive standardization profile for the selected drug. The research gap was addressed through this current research. Authentic plant materials were subjected to macroscopic and microscopic evaluation, including transverse-section and powder microscopy, revealing diagnostic characters such as longitudinal ridges, stone cells and tannin cells in the fruit of T. chebula, and paracytic stomata, calcium oxalate crystals and latex cells in the leaf of W. tinctoria. The total ash values, water extractive value, alcohol soluble extractive value and loss on drying of the T. chebula and Wrightia tinctoria found to be 5.2% and 6.2%, 18% and 15%, 12% and 11% and 6.5% and 5.8% respectively. The preliminary phytochemical screening indicated the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides and saponins, consistent with the traditional therapeutic use of both plants. The findings of the present investigation provide scientifically validated pharmacognostical standards for Terminalia chebula and Wrightia tinctoria which can serve as reliable reference parameters for quality control, standardization and future research involving these medicinal plants.