Pharmacognostical Evaluation of Erythrina stricta Roxb: Stem Bark

The evaluation of quality and purity of crude drugs by means of various parameters is the most important aspect of Pharmacognosy. Pharmacognostical studies of a plant helps in the proper identification of a drug and provides basis for authentication of crude drug. Erythrina stricta Roxb belongs to the family Fabaceae. It is commonly known as Indian Coral Tree. It is an armed deciduous tree. The tree is 15-20 m tall, branchlets apically stellate pubescent, basically glaberescent densely prickled. The tree is found in the plains and found up to an altitude of 1000m. It is widely distributed in the Asian and South East Asian countries like India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and China. The bark and flower are known for medicinal properties such as biliousness, rheumatism, asthma, leprosy, epilepsy, fever, antidote to poison etc. Literature survey showed that no detailed work on pharmacognostical and development of standardisation parameters have been done. The present work was carried out to perform the morpho anatomical and physicochemical evaluation of Erythrina stricta stem bark. The pharmacognostic studies were carried out in terms of organoleptic, macroscopic, microscopic and physicochemical parameters. This will help in the identification of the plant and also detect any adulterants or substandard drugs.