Pharmacognostical and phytochemical studies of sahdevi [vernonia cinerea less.] a lesser known plant

ABSTRACT

Ash coloured fleabane [Vernonia cinerea Less; Family Asteraceae] commonly known as Sahdevi is an Indian plant and it seems that the Unani practitioners adopted it for its easy availability and usefulness in fever, conjunctivitis, general weakness, syphilis, gonorrhoea, and diseases of kidney and urinary bladder etc. There is report for its usefulness but no pharmacognostical and phytochemical work are carried out and can be put as lesser known plant. Thus in order to bridge the gap. the present work is an endeavor in this regard. The study included macroscopy, microscopy and physicochemical standardization. The qualitative analysis for different constituents and the quantitative estimation of carbohydrates 9.23%, sterols/terpenes 0.99%, nitrogen 4.40%, proteins 3.40%, phenols 2.41%, flavonoids 5.03% and oil 2.61% were carried out. With the help of descending paper chromatography 12 amino acids and 2 sugars were found to be present. Thin Layer Chromatography [TLC] was also carried out for identification of organic compounds