Comparative Pharmacognostical Studies on Genuine, Commercial and Adulterant Samples of Centella Asiatica (L.) Urban

Abstract

The adulteration and substitution of herbal drugs is the burning problem in herbal industry. Adulteration becomes a very serious problem with crude drugs, and often occurs when a drug is not easily available or when its price is comparatively high. Adulteration, in many cases, may not be intentional. In many cases, it could occur due to mistaken identity of the plant. In the present study, comparative pharmacognostical studies have been planned to test the purity of the material that is commercially available for medicinal purposes with the genuine material and the material with similar morphology of the drug plant. The results of the present study enumerate the rate of purity of the commercial sample of Centella asiatica with the pharmacognostical and phytochemical characters of genuine and adulterant plant.

Keywords: Adulteration, Centella asiatica, Merremia emarginata, pharmacognosy, phytochemistry