Pharmacognostical Investigations on Ipomoea Aquatica Forsk

Plants are a great source of medicines, which are useful in the treatment of various diseases. Ipomoea aquatica Forsk of family Convolvulaceae commonly known as Kalmisag or Nalanibhaji is being used as a green leafy vegetable and have great medicinal value in Indian medicine. It is used in Unani System of Medicine as carminative, lessens inflammation, useful in fever, jaundice, biliousness, bronchitis and liver complaints. In present investigation, the detailed pharmacognostic study of Ipomoea aquatica Forsk leaf is carried out to lay down the standards which could be useful in future experimental studies. The study includes macroscopy, microscopy, preliminary phytochemical screening and physicochemical evaluation. INTRODUCTION: Herbal drugs play an important role in health care programs especially in developing countries. Ancient Indian literature incorporates a remarkably broad definition of medicinal plants and considers all plant parts to be potential sources of medicinal substances . Medicinal plants have been receiving great attention worldwide by the researchers because of their safe utility. The curative properties of medicinal plants are mainly due to the presence of various complex chemical substances of different composition which occur as secondary metabolites . However, a key obstacle, which has hindered the acceptance of the alternative medicines in the developed countries, is the lack of documentation and stringent quality control. So it becomes extremely important to make an effort towards standardization of the plant material to be used as medicine. The present work was undertaken to study pharmacognostic characteristics and physicochemical evaluation of leaves of Ipomoea aquatica Forsk. Ipomoea aquatica Forsk (Synonym. Ipomoea reptans Linn.) of family Convolvulaceae commonly known as kalmisag or nalanibhaji or water-spinach ; is a perennial herb found throughout India, Ceylon, Tropical Asia, Africa and Australia . Ipomoea aquatica use as carminative, lessens inflammation; useful in fever, Jaundice, biliousness, bronchitis, liver complaints in Yunani system of medicine; also use in nervous and general debility of female in Assam; stem and leaves use in febrile delirium in Cambodia . Leaves and flowers of Ipomoea aquatica shows antioxidant activity 5, . Leaves of Ipomoea aquatica possess oral hypoglycaemic activity in streptozotocin induced diabetic Wistar rats and Type II diabetic patients . Methanol extract of leaves of Ipomoea aquatica shows hypolipidemic activity . MATERIALS AND METHODS:The leaves of the plant Ipomoea aquatica were collected from Rajkot district of Gujarat, India. The plant material was identified by