Plant Science Today, ISSN 2348-1900 (online) OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE HISTORY Received: 27 December 2021 Accepted: 29 May 2022 Available online Version 1.0 : 15 July 2022 Additional information Peer review: Publisher thanks Sectional Editor and the other anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Reprints & permissions information is avail- able at https://horizonepublishing.com/ journals/index.php/PST/open_access_policy Publisher’s Note: Horizon e-Publishing Group remains neutral with regard to jurisdic- tional claims in published maps and institu- tional afiliations. Indexing: Plant Science Today, published by Horizon e-Publishing Group, is covered by Scopus, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, Clarivate Analytics, NAAS etc. See https://horizonepublishing.com/journals/ index.php/PST/indexing_abstracting Copyright: © The Author(s). This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/) CITE THIS ARTICLE Rampalli S, Bindu G. Pharmacognostical in- vestigation of Clitoria ternatea L. leaves. Plant Science Today (Early Access). https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.1640 Abstract Clitoria ternatea L. (Family: Fabaceae) is also commonly known as Aparajita or Shankapushpi. The folklore claims the use of whole plant for curing vari- ous ailments. The leaves are used for hepatic problems, otalgia and erup- tions. Pharmacognosy is an indispensable aid in standardization of herbal drugs. For the present investigation, pharmacognostical evaluation of C. ternatea L. leaf is carried out for quality standards. The study involves the following parameters like macroscopic, microscopic, histochemical analy- sis, powder microscopy, preliminary phytochemical screening, and physico- chemical analysis. The keystone characteristic of microscopic studies under light and scanning electron microscopy revealed the presence of scleren- chyma ring around the vascular bundle in the midrib region and; two types of non-glandular bicellular trichomes, first type is smooth walled with curved apex, and second type is warty walled with blunt apex. The presence of wax crystalloids on the surface of the leaflets was clearly observed in ESEM. Powder study goes concurrent with microscopy. The physicochemi- cal studies revealed i.e. total ash (8.15 %), water soluble ash (6.58 %), acid insoluble ash (1.88 %) and sulphated ash (9.05%); water soluble extractive value (14.92%) and alcohol soluble extractive values of (9.66%) which are comparatively higher to other solvents. The preliminary phytochemical and histochemical studies showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, anthra- quinone glycosides, terpenoids, flavonoids etc. In the current studies, phar- macopeial standards are laid down for the leaves of C. ternatea L. Keywords : Aparajita, Clitoria ternatea, leaves, Pharmacognosy, Shankapushpi Introduction Clitoria ternatea L., commonly known as Aparajita/ Shankapushpi/ Gokarna is a climber (1). It belongs to family Fabaceae. The whole plant is used in treating dysentery, asthma in ascites, snakebites and abdominal enlarge- ment by the aboriginals (2). The root is used as diuretic, in fever, inflamma- tion, brain tonic etc. The seeds are recommended as nerve tonic and as laxa- tive (3). The leaves are used in otalgia, hepatopathy and eruptions (4 - 6). The present investigation deals with macroscopic, microscopic evaluation of the leaf, including physicochemical and phytochemical analysis. (Fig. 1. A, B). Materials and Methods Procurement of Materials For the present investigation, the mature leaves of C. ternatea L. were col- RESEARCH ARTICLE PLANT SCIENCE TODAY ISSN 2348-1900 (online) Vol x(x): xx–xx https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.1640 HORIZON e-Publishing Group Pharmacognostical investigation of Clitoria ternatea L. leaves Shivnetra Rampalli & Bindu Gopalkrishnan * Research Department of Botany, SVKM’s Mithibai College of Arts, Chauhan Institute of Science & Amruthben Jivanlal College of Commerce and Eco- nomics, (Autonomous). Afiliated to University of Mumbai, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai -56, India *Email: bindu_phd@redifmail.com