14 Pharmacognosy of rhizome and root of Nymphoides indica. / Asian Journal of Traditional Medicines, 2011, 6 (1) Regular articles Pharmacognostical studies on the rhizome and roots of Nymphoides indica (L.) Ktze. – alternate source for Tagara V Madhavan a , Shilpi Arora a , S N Yoganarasimhan a *, M R Gurudeva b a. Department of Pharmacognosy, MS Ramaiah College of Pharmacy, Bangalore 560054, India; b. Department of Pharmacognosy, VV Pura College of Science, Bangalore 560004, India. Abstract 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 rhizome and roots of Nymphoides indica, a potential alternative source for Tagara is presented in this paper. The study includes the morphology of the plant, macro-, microscopical and diagnostic characters of the rhizome and root, the part which is used for medicinal purposes. Important details like the macerate, histochemical and uv studies, physico-chemical constants, phytochemical analysis and HPTLC inger print are presented, all of which will be useful in the standardization of this drug. Key words: Nymphoides indica; pharmacognosy; rhizome; root; HPTLC; alternate source for Tagara. 1. Introduction Tagara is an important drug used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of diseases like anemia (pandu), epilepsy (apasmara), fever (jwara), jaundice (kamala), mental disorders (unmada), tuberculosis (yakshma), and it is also used as a general and brain tonic [1]. The accepted botanical source of Tagara is Valeriana jatamansi Jones (Valerianaceae) [2] which is restricted to the Himalayas [3]. In South India, a drug under the name Granthika Tagara (Kannada), identiied as Nymphoides macrospermum Vasudevan (Menyanthaceae) is used in place of Tagara (Valeriana jatamansi) for the same ayurvedic preparations, under the same formulations, supporting the fact that Granthika tagara ( N. macrospermum) may have similar therapeutic properties to that of Tagara ( V. jatamansi ); furthermore, it is often found that Granthika Tagara is an admixture of different species of Nymphoides Hill found in S. India viz. N. aurantiacum (Dalz.) Ktze., N. hydrophylla (Lour.) Ktze., N. indica (L.) Ktze. and N. macrosperumum Vasudevan [4]. N. indica rhizome and roots are bitter, used as antiscorbutic and febrifuge, also as a substitute for chiretta (Swertia chirayita (Roxb. ex Flem.) Kars.) to treat fever and jaundice [5, 6]. Literature review revealed that while pharmacognostical studies have been carried out on N. macrospermum [7], no work is available on N. indica [8-10]. Hence the present * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Address: Department of Pharmacognosy, MS Ramaiah College of Pharmacy, Bangalore 560054, India. Tel.: +91-80-23608942; E-mail: seekyogan65@yahoo.in; dryogan@gmail.com Received: 2010-07-26 Accepted: 2011-01-15