Abstract

PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND DRUG EVALUATION PARAMETERS OF PINUS ROXBURGHII SARG

Neelam Kumari*, Dr. Balbir Singh and Narinder Singh

Abstract

The Pinus roxburghii Sarg (Pinaceae) is commonly known as chirpine. It is a large tree up to 28-55 m in height. The bark is red-brown,leaves are needle-like, in fascicles of three, very slender, distinctlyyellowish green. The P.roxburghii is an economically valuable species,balancing the ecosystem of the Indian mountains. The plant have theirown pharmaceutically importance. In traditional system of medicinedifferent parts of the plant have been used for cough, cold, influenza,tuberculosis, bronchitis antiseptic, diaphoretic, diuretic, rubefacient,stimulant and vermifuge. Bark paste is used in burns. Resin is used torelieve cough and gastric troubles. Plant is used as intestinal antiseptic,hypolipidimic, antioxidant property. The present study was undertakento assess pharmacognostic parameters and phytochemical screnning of bark of Pinusroxburghii Sarg. Organoleptic evaluation of bark were done by studying organoleptic featureslike shape, size,colour, odour, taste and fracture In microscopy the bark was soaking intowater filled beaker so that sufficient moistening is obtained for microscopy. In powdermicrocsopy dried powdered material was obtained by grinding bark and visual undermicroscope taken at 100x .To evaluate the Physico chemical property the crude dried plantmaterial was subjected to study the various parameters such as extractive value usingdifferent solvent pet ether, chloroform, methanol and water, also calculate the percentageyield of moisture content, ash value including acid insoluble, water soluble ash, fluorescenceanalysis and loss on drying etc were evaluated by using standard procedures. To evaluate thephytochemical screening of extracts the different solvents were used such as Sodiumhydroxide, Chloral hydrate, Ferric chloride, Sulphuric acid, Iodine, Lead acetate, Magnesium, Potassium iodide, Picric acid, Mercuric chloride, Nitric acid and identify which chemical constituents are present in the bark of P. roxburghii.

Keywords: Pinus roxburghii,extractive value, microscopy, phytochemical screening and picric acid.