PHARMACOGNOSTICAL EVALUATION AND STANDARDIZATION OF AERIAL PARTS OF SPHAERANTHUS INDICUS LINN. (ASTERACEAE)

Sphaeranthus indicus Linn (Asteraceae) is a popular and very useful plant used in Indian system of medicine. It is usually found in damp areas, plains and also as a weed in the rice fields. In the Ayurvedic system of medicine, the plant as a whole plant or its different parts like leaf, stem, bark, root, flower and seed are widely used for curing many diseases. The plant is enriched with various types of secondary metabolites such as eudesmanolides, sesquiterpenoids, sesquiterpene lactones, sesquiterpene acids, flavone glycosides, flavonoid C‑glycosides, isoflavone glycoside, sterols, sterol glycoside, alkaloid, peptide alkaloids, amino acids and sugars. Essential oil has been isolated from flowers and whole plant. In this present study, various methods are carried out to perform the evaluation of pharmacognostical parameters of crude drug as well as aqeous extract of aerial part of the plant which may forms the basis for the further use of the plant and also for the evaluation of its various pharmacological activity. The physicochemical evaluation confirms the quality and purity of the crude drug.  Aqeous extract of Sphaeranthus indicus (AESI) was found to be rich in presence of alkaloids, proteins, amino acids, saponins, flavonoids and other phenolic compounds while glycosides, sterols, carbohydrates and volatile oils were found to be absent. The quantitative estimation of phytoconstituents viz. total flavonoids and total phenolics and saponins revealed that AESI was found rich in total flavonoids while less amount of total phenolic content while total saponin was present in fair amount. This present study can be a basis of further evaluation of various pharmacological activity of the aqeous extract of Sphaeranthus indicus.