Pharmacognostical investigation of Clitoria ternatea L. leaves

Clitoria ternatea L. (Family: Fabaceae) is also commonly known as Aparajita or Shankapushpi. The folklore claims the use of whole plant for curing various ailments. The leaves are used for hepatic problems, otalgia and eruptions. Pharmacognosy is an indispensable aid in standardization of herbal drugs. For the present investigation, pharmacognostical evaluation of C. ternatea L. leaf is carried out for quality standards. The study involves the following parameters like macroscopic, microscopic, histochemical analysis, powder microscopy, preliminary phytochemical screening, and physicochemical analysis. The keystone characteristic of microscopic studies under light and scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of sclerenchyma ring around the vascular bundle in the midrib region and; two types of non-glandular bicellular trichomes, first type is smooth walled with curved apex, and second type is warty walled with blunt apex. The presence of wax crystalloids on the surface of the leaflets was clearly observed in ESEM. Powder study goes concurrent with microscopy. The physicochemical studies revealed i.e. total ash (8.15 %), water soluble ash (6.58 %), acid insoluble ash (1.88 %) and sulphated ash (9.05%); water soluble extractive value (14.92%) and alcohol soluble extractive values of (9.66%) which are comparatively higher to other solvents. The preliminary phytochemical and histochemical studies showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, anthraquinone glycosides, terpenoids, flavonoids etc. In the current studies, pharmacopeial standards are laid down for the leaves of C. ternatea L.