S148 Document heading Pharmacognostical Study of Hedychium Spicatum (Ham-Ex-Smith) Rhizome Shivani Ghildiyal 1 , Manish Kumar Gautam 2 , Vinod Kumar Joshi 1 , Raj Kumar Goel 2 1 Departments of Dravya Guna, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India 2 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease (2012)S148-S153 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease journal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/apjtd *Corresponding author: Prof. Raj Kumar Goel, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India Telephone: 91-0542-2307522 Fax-91-0542-2367568 E-mail: rkgoelbhu50@gmail.com 1. Introduction Hedychium spicatum (Ham-ex-smith) belongs to family zingiberaceae, is a perennial rhizomatous herb. It grows throughout subtropical Himalaya in the Indian state of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand with in an altitudinal range of 1000 to 3000 m. It is tall stout herb with fleshy rhizomes, thick straight stem with broadly lanceolate leaves. H. spicatum rhizome is mentioned as shati in Ayurvedic classics and has been used in various dosage forms to treat cough, wound ulcer, fever, respiratory problems and hiccough. The rhizomes have a strong aromatic odour and bitter taste. The rhizome extract has been reported to contain essential oil, starch, resins, organic acids, glycosides, albumen and saccharides, which has been advocated for blood purification and treatments of bronchitis, indigestion, eye disease and inflammations. The rhizome has been reported to contain sitosterol and its glucosides, furanoid diterpene-hedychenone, 7- hydroxyhedychenone and Metoxycinnamate. Essential oil present in rhizome has cineole, terpinene, limonene, phellandrene, p-cymene, linalool and terpeneol as major constituents [1] . The rhizome has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory, anti- asthmatic, hypoglycaemic, vasodialator, spasmolytic, hypotensive, in vitro pediculicidal, cytotoxic and antimicrobial properties [2] . Authenticity, purity and assay are the three major attributes for standardization and quality control [3] . Hence, in the present work we made an attempt for the standardization of H. Spicatum rhizome by carrying out its pharmacognostic evaluation. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Plant material The rhizome of H. spitactum Ham-ex-Smith was collected from Lansdown (Uttarakhand) in the month of October to November and confirmed with the sample preserved in the herbarium of the Department of Dravyaguna, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. A specimen of plant (DGM- 104) was preserved in the museum ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 15 April 2011 Received in revised from 27 April 2011 Accepted 28 June 2011 Available online 28 June 2011 Keywords: Hedychium spicatum Rhizome Phytochemical testing TLC HPTLC DNA fingerprinting Objective: To explore a detailed pharmacognostic study of the rhizome of Hedychium spicatum Ham-ex-Smith (Zingiberaceae), a plant species which is commonly used in preparation of indigenous medicine. Methods: The macroscopy, microscopy, quantitative analysis, extractive values in ethanol and water, phytochemical screening, TLC and HPTLC of aqueous and ethanolic extract and DNA fingerprint of the rhizome were investigated. Results: Rhizome appeared to be 15-20 cm long, 20-25 mm in diameter, light-brown with 4-6 nodules. Transverse section of rhizome showed an outermost thick layer of suberised, dark brown cells in outer cork with 10 or more layers of irregular parenchymatous cells. Inner cork consisted of a few layered light brown rectangular radially arranged cells, followed by a wide zone of cortex having 30-40 cell layers. Rhizome powder was light brown in colour, bitter having camphorous odour, and fibrous texture. Alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins, resins, saponins, steroid, tannin, starch and glycosides were present in both extracts while, flavonoids and triterpenoids were present only in ethanolic extract. TLC, HPTLC and DNA fingerprinting confirmed the chemical composition present in rhizome. Conclusions: The pharmacognostic profile of Hedychium spicatum rhizome is helpful in sample identification, quality and purity standards. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect