Abstract

The current study was conducted to develop the pharmacognostic standards forLagerstroemia speciosa leaves. These evaluations were performed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and the Thai Herbal Pharmacopoeia (THP) for herbal standardisation. No other reports are available on the pharmacognostic evaluation of the leaves of L. speciosa (L.) Pers. Organoleptic, and we thus reported the anatomical and microscopic characteristics, physico-chemical properties, preliminary phytochemical screening, and thin layer chromatography (TLC) fingerprinting profiles for this plant. Corosolic acid, an active compound of L. speciosa leaves, was also analyzed. Anatomical and histological analyses revealed the presence of anomocytic stomata and parenchyma containing rosette aggregate calcium oxalate crystals. Triterpene, sterol and tannin tests were positive. The loss of these compounds after drying, the moisture content, the total ash content and the acid-insoluble ash content were determined to be 8.2141 ± 0.9300, 7.8593 ± 0.8141, 7.4725 ± 0.7277 and 1.2176 ± 0.6223%, respectively. These pharmacognostic parameters were useful for detecting low-grade products and for determining extractive values. Ethanol-, dichloromethane-, and water-extractive values were found to be 9.0280 ± 2.2937, 2.9442 ± 0.8827 and 13.1895 ± 1.9934%, respectively. This study provides important information for the correct identification and herbal standardisation of L. speciosaleaves.

Key words: Lagerstroemia speciosa, corosolic acid, herbal standardisation, Lthraceae, pharmacognostic evaluation.