Analysis of Jadwar a controversial herbal drug

ABSTRACT

Jadwar, used commonly in the Unani system of medicine for a variety of ailments is very effective as a cardiotonic, happens to be one of the highly controversial drugs due to the confusion on its nomenclature. A perusal of literature reveals that entirely unrelated taxa like Aconitum heterophyllum Wall., Curcuma aromatica Salisb. And Delphinium denudatum Wall. are erroneously referred under one and the same name - Jadwar in the modern literature. In the present study all the three possible sources of Jadwar have been compared morphologically and medicinally with the authentic Unani literature and the herbarium specimens. Based on the study, the botanical source of the actual and geruine Jadwar is established as the roots of D. denudatum