Pharmacognostical Studies on the Root and Rhizome of Nymphoides Hydrophylla (Linn.) O. Kuntze –an Alternate Source for Tagara Drug

Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources

Vol. 3(3), September 2012, pp. 371-385

Pharmacognostical studies on the root and rhizome of Nymphoides hydrophylla

(Linn.) O. Kuntze –An alternate source for Tagara drug

V Madhavan1, M Jayashree1, S N Yoganarasimhan1*, M Gurudeva2, R Deveswaran3 and R Mythreyi1

1

Department of Pharmacognosy, MS Ramaiah College of Pharmacy, Bangalore-560 054, India

2

Department of Botany, VV Pura College of Science, Bangalore

3

Department of Pharmaceutics, MS Ramaiah College of Pharmacy, Bangalore

Received 13 October 2011; Accepted 19 January 2012

Tagara is an important drug used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of several diseases. The accepted botanical

source of Tagara is Valeriana jatamasni Jones, although different species of Nymphoides Hill are used by the physicians.

The pharmacognostical evaluation of the root and rhizome of Nymphoides hydrophylla, a potential alternative source for

Tagara is presented in this paper. Important details like morphology of the plant, macro-, microscopical characters,

macerate, histochemical tests, UV studies of the root and rhizome along with physico-chemical constants, phytochemical

analysis and HPTLC finger print profile are presented, all of which will be useful in the standardization of this drug.

Isolation of β-sitosterol, betulinic, salicylic and tannic acids are reported for the first time from N. hydrophylla. The

pharmacognostical and phytochemical studies help in the identification of N. hydrophylla from other species used as Tagara.

Keywords: Nymphoides hydrophylla, Pharmacognosy, Root, Rhizome, HPTLC, Tagara.

IPC code; Int. cl. (2011.01)—A61K 36/00

Introduction

Tagara is an important drug used in Ayurvedic

medicine for the treatment of diseases like anaemia

(pandu), epilepsy (apasmara), fever (jwara), jaundice

(kamala), mental disorders (unmada), tuberculosis

(yakshma) and also as a general and brain tonic1.

Valeriana jatamansi Jones...