Address for correspondence: Dr. Sumitra Chanda, Phytochemical, Pharmacological and Microbiological Laboratory, Department of Biosciences, Saurashtra University, Rajkot 360 005, Gujarat, India. E-mail address: svchanda@gmail.com DOI: **** Pharmacognosy Journal | January 2011 | Vol 2 | Issue 18 13 ORIGINAL ARTICLE PHCOG J. Evaluation of pharmacognostic and physicochemical parameters of Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz. Flowers Yogesh Baravalia, Krunal Nagani, Sumitra Chanda* Phytochemical, Pharmacological and Microbiological Laboratory, Department of Biosciences, Saurashtra University, Rajkot 360 005, Gujarat, India. ABSTRACT The fowers of Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz. (Lythraceae) are reported to have good medicinal values in traditional system of medicines. Present work deals with the pharmacognostical examination of macroscopic and microscopical characters of Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz. fowers including detailed anatomy of the pedicel, calyx, pollen grain, anther lobe and ovary. Powder studies showed presence of rosette and cluster crystals of calcium oxalate, annual xylem and unicellular trichome. The physiochemical properties such as loss on drying, total ash value, acid insoluble ash value, water soluble ash value solubility, melting point, pH and extractive values and of fower were carried out. The results of the study could be useful for the identifcation and preparation of a monograph of the plant. Keywords: Woodfordia fruticosa fower, Pharmacognostic, Physicochemical properties INTRODUCTION The use of herbal medicines continues to expand rapidly across the world. Many people now take herbal medicines or herbal products for their health care in different national health-care settings. According to WHO, 80% of the rural population in developing countries depend on traditional medicines to meet their primary health care needs. [1] Authentication and standardization are prerequisite steps while considering source materials for herbal formulation in any system of medicine. [2] Woodfordia fruticosa Kurz. belongs to the family Lythraceae, is a much branched beautiful shrub, 1-3 m high. It is the plant of tropical and subtropical regions with a long history of medicinal use. The plant is abundantly present throughout India and also in a majority of the countries of South East and Far East Asia like Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, China, Japan and Pakistan as well as Tropical Africa. [3] The original Sanskrit name Agnijwala or Tamra-pushpi appears to be derived from the bright red colour of the fower and the bark. Locally (In Gujarat) it is known as Dhavdi. [4,5] Pharmacognosy basically deals with the standardization, authentication and study of natural drugs. It is closely involved with allied felds, viz. phytochemistry and toxicological screening of natural products. Much of the research in pharmacognosy has been done in identifying controversial species of plants, authentication of commonly used traditional medicinal plants through morphological, histological, physicochemical and toxicological parameters, especially heavy metal estimation and radiobiological contamination in plants, prescribed by an authoritative source. The importance of pharmacognosy has been widely felt in recent time. [6] To ensure reproducible quality of herbal medicines, proper control of starting material is utmost essential. The frst step towards ensuring quality of starting material is authentication followed by creating numerical values of standards for comparison. Pharmacognostical parameters for easy identifcation like fower constants, microscopy and physico chemical analyses are few of the basic protocol for standardization of herbals. Hence, in the present work the pharmacognostical standardization has been performed for the fower of the plant.