Pharmacognosy Journal | August 2011 | Vol 3 | Issue 24 39 orIgInAl ArtIcle PHcog J. *Address for correspondence: E-mail: drhullatti@klepharm.edu DOI: 10.5530/pj.2011.24.8 genkwanin and volatile oils in the leaves. [11] Ethanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of the plant has been found possess signifcant diuretic activity. [12] The plant is also known to contain the constituents responsible for cytotoxicity and anti bacterial activity. [13] METERIALS AND METHODS Plant material Coleus amboinicus was collected from the surrounding Shimoga city, Karnataka and authenticated by Prof. D. Rudrappa, Dept. of Botany, S.R.N.M. College, Shimoga. The collected plants are washed thoroughly with water, all the three parts i.e. leaves, stems and roots were separated and dried in shade at room temperature and powdered using hand mill to make a coarse powder. Then they are stored in well- closed light resistant container until further use. Morpho-Anatomical studies of Coleus amboinicus The macroscopy and microscopy of the plant was studied according to the methods of Brain & Turner, [14] the cross sections were prepared and stained. Physico-chemical analysis Air dried plant material was used for the quantitative determination of ash and extractive values were determined as per the WHO guidelines. [15] Fluorescence analysis of the extract(s) was carried out by the method of Chase & Pratt. [16] Pharmacognostical Evaluation of Different Parts of Coleus amboinicus lour., Lamiaceae K K Hullatti* 1 , Prasenjit Bhattacharjee 2 1 Department of Pharmacognosy, KLE University College of Pharmacy, Belgaum, India - 010. 2 Department of Pharmacognosy, National College of Pharmacy, India, Shimoga – 201 ABStrAct Coleus amboinicus lour. belonging to the family lamiaceae commonly known as Karpuravalli, omavalli in tamil, Patta ajavayin, Patharcur in Hindi, country borage in english is a large succulent aromatic perennial herb. the leaves of this plant have been used in malarial fever, hepatopathy, renal and vesicle calculi, cough, chronic asthma, hiccough, bronchitis, anthelmintic, colic and convulsions. this paper deals with the pharmacognostical evaluation of leaves, stems and roots of Coleus amboinicus by using different parameters which include morpho-anatomical studies, physicochemical properties and fuorescence analysis to set the quality control parameters for the raw material. Key words: quality control, microscopy, Physico-chemical, Morpho-anatomical INTRODUCTION The plant Coleus amboinicus (synonym: Plectranthus amboinicus, Coleus aromaticus) commonly known as Country borage, Indian borage, is a dicotyledonous plant belonging to the family Lamiacea. [1,2] It is a large succulent aromatic perennial herb. Much branched, feshy highly aromatic pubescent herb with distinctive smelling leaves. The plant is distributed through out India, cultivated in the gardens. It is a folkloric medicinal plant used to treat malarial fever, hepatopathy, [3] renal and vesical calculi, cough, chronic asthma, [4] hiccough, bronchitis, helminthiasis, colic, convulsions and epilepsy. [5] It is used to treat colds and cough as well as arthritic infammations. [6] Its insect repellent properties have been tested [7] and another member of the Coleus genus, C. aromaticus, has been found to cause reduction in egg laying capacity, retard in adult emergence and weight loss in the pulse beetle Callosobruchus maculatus. [8] A moderate allelopathic effect of the powdered leaves of C.amboinicus against the water hyacinth is also on record. [9] Studies performed in India demonstrated the “fungistatic” properties of the essential oil of this plant. [10] The Phytochemical study reveals the presence of various favonoids like quercetin, apigenin, luteolin, salvigenin,