Pharmacognostic studies on leaflets of soymida febrifuga adr. juss. family: meliaceac

ABSTRACT

Soymida febrifuga Adr. Juss. belonging to family Meliaceae, is lofty deciduous tree, found on dry stony hills and on laterite soil. The leaflets were collected from Rahuri [Ahemadnagar Dist., Maharastra]. The leaflets were studied for macroscopy, microscopy, powder characteristics, loss on drying and ash values. Microscopic studies revealed dorsiventral character of leaflets. Differentiable features like absence of stomata in upper lamina, presence of more amount of cluster type calcium oxalate crystals and presence of cicatrix were observed. Cicatrix is very rare character which can serve as identifying character. Acid soluble ash value obtained was high because of these abundant calcium oxalate crystals. Successive extractive values were determined using petroleum ether [60.80°C], chloroform and methanol. Methanolic extractive value was 26.459% w/w which is quite high. Preliminary chemical screening of extracts showed that petroleum ether extract contains sterols and triterpene type compounds while methanolic extract contains sugars, tannins, flavonols and glycosides. TLC of petroleum ether extract in benzene shows maximum 7 spots while methanolic extract in Ethyl acetate Ethyl methyl ketone Formic acid water [5311] shows maximum 6 spots