Chemoscopic, macromorphological and micromorphological evaluation of the leaves of <i>Crescentia cujet</i>Linn

The leaves of Crescentia cujete Linn belonging to Bignoniaceae family have been reported to exhibit some important medicinal properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-tumour and anti-inflammatory activities. This study therefore evaluated the chemoscopic, macro-morphological andmicromorphological attributes of powdered, fresh and anatomical sections of Crescentia cujete Linn leaves using standard methods. The result ofchemoscopic study confirmed presence of calcium oxalate crystals, fat deposits and traces of lignin in numbers on epidermal surfaces. Macro-morphological study revealed that C. cujete leaves are deep green in colour with faint odour, sour taste and smooth-feel with non-granular  surfaces. Micromorphological examinations indicated that epidermal cells are irregular, rectangular to polygonal in shape on the abaxial surface but epidermal cells on the adaxial surface were straight, slightly undulating with thick anticlinal cell walls. Paracytic stomata arrangement was found only on the abaxial surfaces. Quantitative leaf microscopy confirmed that epidermal cells had average sizes of 37.52 ± 4.62 – 39.23 ± 4.73 μm in  length while cell width was 25.51± 0.86 – 27.76 ± 4.21μm. The stomata length was 15.66 ± 2.04 and 6.29 ±0.93 in width. Organoleptic and other  parameters evaluated on C. cujete shows that it has optimum potential for herbal drug development and a baseline for species identification.