Pharmacognostical evaluation of the stem and root of Rhynchosia beddomei - An endemic plant of Andhra Pradesh

Rhynchosia beddomei (Fabaceae) is an endemic plant to the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India. The plant is widely used by Yanadi and Chenchu tribes for the treatment of rheumatic pains, wound healing, cuts, boils, sprains, and also as an antidote for insect bites. For the worldwide acceptance of the traditional system of medicine, documentation and standardization of the raw materials used for the preparation of herbal medicine is of primary concern. Pharmacognostical studies play an important role in the identification of plants. Standardization of plant materials is mainly done by detailed microscopic evaluation. The present study aims to evaluate and establish the various pharmacognostical approaches like macroscopical, microscopical (cell structure and their arrangement), physicochemical (including different ash values, loss on drying and extractive values), fluorescence, preliminary phytochemical profiles of the stem and root parts. The microscopical studies of stem revealed the presence of prominent tanniniferrous circular idioblasts in the phloem region and prismatic, rectangular, and cuboidal-shaped calcium oxalate crystals in the pith, cortex, and phloem parenchyma regions. In the roots, thin and thick roots were studied. The thin root has a wide fissured periderm and a narrow cortex with a discontinuous layer of sclerenchyma elements inner with periderm. The thick root has a wider, fissured superficial periderm followed by a cortical zone where parenchyma cells and sclereids are mixed at random. The current research report on pharmacognostical evaluation provides an important diagnostic tool for the correct identification and documentation of the endemic plant material of R. beddomei in dried form.