Phcog J | Jan–Feb 2014 | Vol 6 | Issue 1 7 ORIGINAL ARTICLE PHCOG J ABSTRACT Background: Lagenaria siceraria (LS) fruits belonging to Cucurbitaceae family is widely used in Indian traditional medicine for its various medicinal values. As per best of our knowledge there were no pharmacognostical reports, specifically to determine anatomical and other physicochemical standards required for its standardization. Material and Methods: In this study various standardization parameters like macroscopic and microscopic studies, physico- chemical constants, extractive values and preliminary phytochemical screening were studied and reported. Results: Different standardization parameters were reported, which would be of immense use to identify and establish the authenticity of the plant. Conclusion: Preliminary pharmacognostic evaluation of Lagenaria siceraria fruits can give some useful information, which will be further used for standardization. Keywords: Pharmacognostic, Bhopla, Cucurbitaceae, standardization, Lagenaria siceraria. Pharmacognostic studies of Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) standley fruits C.V. Panchal a, *, Jyotiram A. Sawale b , B. N. Poul a and K.R. Khandelwal c a Maharashtra College of Pharmacy, Nilanga, Dist. Latur (M.S.) PIN-413521 b IES College of Pharmcy, Kalkheda Ratibad Main Road, Bhopal (M.P.) PIN-462001 c Rajarshi Shahu College of Pharmacy and Research, Tathwade, Pune-33 (M.S.) INTRODUCTION Lagenaria siceraria (LS) locally called as ‘Bhopla’ is a large softly pubescent annual climber distributed in Asia, Amer- ica and tropical Africa, wild or cultivated in all warmer regions as a vegetable. The fruit is reported as diuretic and antipyretic. Traditionally a decoction of leaves mixed with sugar is given in jaundice. The seeds are being used to cure cough, fever, earache, as brain tonic and anti-infamma- tory. [1–4] The fruit contains saponins and some researchers have already reported saponins plays a vital role as hepa- toprotective. [4–8,15] In the present study, various standardization param- eters of LS fruits like macroscopical and microscopical characters, extractive values, ash values and preliminary phytochemical screening were carried out to identify the major phytoconstituents. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plant material The fruits of LS were collected in the month of October, 2005 from local areas of Pune region and authenticated by Botanical Survey of India, Pune and voucher speci- men number, deposited as PCV 1. Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl., belonging to family Cucurbitaceae Chemicals and instuments All the chemicals were used of analytical grade. Com- pound microscope, watch glass, cover slip, glass slide and other common glass wares were used in this experi- ment. Paraffn embedded blocks were sectioned with help of rotary microtome. Photographs were taken with Nikon Labphot 2 microscopic unit. Various solvents used mainly Ethyl alcohol (70%), tertiary butyl alcohol and reagents used for staining different sections like for- malin, acetic acid, toluidine blue, safranin, fast-green and IKI were procured from CDH, Mumbai, India. Macroscopic and microscopic studies Macroscopic study of fruit such as size, shape, color, odor and taste was performed. *Corresponding author. Chandrawadan V. Panchal (Assistant Professor) Maharashtra College of Pharmacy Nilanga, Dist. Latur (MS) PIN-413 521. Mob.No. 9860786596 E-mail: cvpanchal.mcpnilanga@gmail.com DOI: 10.5530/pj.2014.1.2