Original Research Article
Year: 2020 | Month: September | Volume: 7 | Issue: 9 | Pages: 453-461
Microscopical Characterization of Selected Floral Powders Used in Unani System of Medicine
Kiran Negi1, Zaki Ahmed Siddiqui2
1Assistant Research Officer (Pharmacognosy), Drug Standardisation Research Unit (Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine) (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Department of AYUSH, Govt. of India) 61-65, Institutional Area, Janakpuri, New Delhi-58, India
2Research Officer (Unani), Drug Standardisation Research Unit, Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine), (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Department of AYUSH, Govt. of India) 61-65, Institutional Area, Janakpuri, New Delhi-58, India
Corresponding Author: Kiran Negi
ABSTRACT
In unani system of medicine the use of flowers is widely accepted to treat a variety of health problems as they possess strong medicinal potential. Various flowers are administered unanimously either as a single crude drug or get powdered and mixed with other ingredients to form a compound unani formulation. The therapeutic efficacy of the unani formulations is absolutely dependent on the quality of the plant drug used. And if the plant drugs are adulterated, the quality of the preparation cannot go up to the standard level. Microscopical characterization is the only solution for establishing the correct identification of the plant drug material. As the research on the dry flower is meager, the present paper focus on the microscopical characters of five floral powders namely Shagufa-e-Anar, Gul-e-Khatmi, Gul-e-Madar, Zufah-e-Yabis and Zafran that are frequently used in the preparation of various unani compound formulations. The study includes mainly the identification of various cells / tissues / cell contents along with their measurements. Besides this the correct botanical and vernacular names, family name, organoleptic studies, therapeutic uses and important unani formulations containing these flowers as an ingredient have also been reported. All these studies will serve as a reference material in checking the adulteration and identification of authentic floral drug sample in various compound formulations of Unani System of Medicine.
Keywords: Unani formulation, floral powder, microscopical characters.
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