Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 12 (3), July 2013, pp. 489-497 Pharmacognostical standardization of Corchorus depressus (L.) Stocks (Tiliaceae)- A promising ethnomedicinal plant Sandeep Kataria* 1 , Shaival Kamalaksha Rao 2 , Anil Bhandari 1 & Dilsher Kaur 3 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jodhpur National University, Jodhpur -342001, Rajasthan, India, 2 Department of Pharmacognosy, C U Shah College of Pharmacy & Research, Surendranagar-363030, Gujarat, India, 3Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, I. S. F. College of Pharmacy, Moga-142001, Punjab, India E-mail: katariasandy@gmail.com Received 17.10.11, revised 16.05.12 Corchorus depressus (L.) Stocks syn. C. depressus (L.) C. Chr. (Tiliaceae), commonly known as Baphuli, traditionally used in pain, fever, sexual dysfunction and to treat gonorrhea. In the present investigation, various pharmacognostical standards for C. depressus have been established. Collection of plant material was carried out and its morphological, physico-chemical and phytochemical studies including HPTLC of leaf, root and stem of plant were investigated. Microscopically, leaf of C. depressus showed presence of anomocytic stomata, crescent shaped vascular bundles, unicellular trichomes. The roots of the plant showed cork cambium, secondary phloem, and calcium oxalate crystals and stem exhibited fibres, parenchyma cells, vessels, stomata, palisade cells and trichomes. Phytochemically, the ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of C. depressus showed variety of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, saponin, tannin and phenolic compounds. HPTLC profile of methanol extract of leaves revealed up to six phytoconstituents amongst which oleanolic acid was most prominent. The study concludes that leaves, roots and stem can be differentiated on the basis of macro and microscopic characters, physico-chemical values, HPTLC fingerprint profile and oleanolic acid detection as marker component. These studies provide referential information for correct identification and standardization of the plant and also be helpful to differentiate C. depressus from the closely related other species of Corchorus. Keywords: HPTLC, Oleanolic acid, Pharmacognostical standardization, Phytochemical analysis. IPC Int. Cl. 8 : A61K 36/00, C01, C07, A01D 8/53, A01D 20/46, A01D 20/26, A01D 21/1, A01D 12/33 The genus Corchorus comprises of over 100 species which are distributed in the tropics and subtropics, chiefly South-East Asia and South America 1 . Corchorus depressus (L.) Stocks (Tiliaceae) is a prostrate deep rooted, much-branched, perennial herb with plicate leaves, yellow flowers and cylindric straight or curved capsules, found in drier parts of North India 2 . The use of C. depressus in ethnomedicine is varied. Whole plant is used in urinary disorders, as an aphrodisiac, on swelling and in internal injury, urinary inflammation, fever and also for strengthening the body, while seed and fruit decoctions are used as demulcent, mucilage is applied for gonorrhea and leaves are used in liver disorders and impotency 3-10 . The plant is less explored phytochemically like sitosterol glucoside, sitosterol, apigenin, luteolin and α-amyrin derivatives, viz. cordepressic acid, cordepressenic acid, and cordepressin have been reported along with flavonoids quercetin and kaempferol from leaves and flowers 11-12 . The biological activities attributed to this particular species are, antifungal & antibacterial, anthelmintic, antimalarial, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibiting activity, analgesic and antipyretic activities 12-16 . This work aims to contribute towards solving the problem of controversial drugs prevalent in ancient Indian system of medicine, Ayurveda besides helping in laying down pharmacopoeial standards. Therefore, the present paper highlights detailed pharmacognostical studies including high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) fingerprint profiles of various parts Corchorus depressus. A comprehensive literature review revealed that no such work has been undertaken and hence an honest attempt has been done in presenting the data. Methodology Collection and identification of plant material Identification of the plant Corchorus depressus family Tiliaceae was done by Mr P M Padhye —————— *Corresponding author