IMPORTANCE OF PHARMACOGNOSTIC ANALYSIS IN IDENTIFICATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ATIBALA (ABUTILON INDICUM (L.) SWEET)

Abstract

Identification of Medicinal plants has been a great challenge in the present scenario due to fall in its availability. Its seriousness has markedly increased due to adulteration by the vendors thus drastically decreasing the quality of the raw materials that are used in the manufacture of Herbal drugs. Presently Ayurveda uses about 1000 single drugs and 8000 compound formulations of recognized merit are in vogue¹. The adulteration has resulted in the fall of quality in the medicinal preparations of Ayurveda too. Hence it is essential to innovate and develop tools that can help in the proper identification of the medicinal plant source and also the collected raw materials. Pharmacognosy is one such method adopted in the field of Ayurveda today to ensure quality. The present paper tries to highlight its importance with Atibala as an example.