Phytochemical and morphoanatomical studies for establishing quality standards of Dipteracanthus patulus (Jacq.) Nees

This is the first scientific work on pharmacognostic studies of Dipteracanthus patulus Jacq. Nees. (DP). Dipteracanthus, a genus of undershshrubs distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. About seven species are largely found in southern part of India. DP is shrublet belonging to family Acantheaceae. The present research work reports the pharmacognostic studies of morphological and microscopical characters of DP. The leaf constants, ash and extractive values were also determined. The extractive value with water is 55.27, 23.38 and 3.05 times more than pet ether, chloroform and methanol respectively. The preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of carbohydrate, phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, glycosides and steroids. The characteristics orange colored fluorescence was observed with pet ether and methanolic extract of DP leaf. Total phenolic content was found to be 351.09 ± 1.89 µg gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per g of dried sample.