COMPARATIVE PHYTO-PHARMACOGNOSTICAL EVALUATION OF SHYONAKA (Oroxylum indicum Vent.) AND ARALU (Ailanthus excelsa Roxb.) STEM BARKS

Dashmoola is an important group of ten plants whose roots are used for a variety of purposes. In Ayurvedic literature, Aralu (Ailanthus excelsa) is a synonym (Paryaya), a type (Prakara) and also a substitute of Shyonaka (Oroxylum indicum). Aralu (Ailanthus excelsa)is being substituted for Shyonaka as mentioned by Sharangdhar samhita and Shri Jaykrishna Indraji Thakar. So in the view of exploring rationality behind the substitution, the present study was undertaken to analyze and compare the pharmacognostic and phytochemical properties of both the drugs. Both the drug samples were collected from their natural habitats and pulverized to powder form and pharmacognostic and phytochemical tests of methanolic extracts were carried out by standard procedures. Current communication provides a detailed summary of common pharmacognostical identifying characters like cork, cortex, medullary rays, phloem, fibres, simple and pitted sclerids and distinguishing characters like prismatic crystals in O. indicum while Rosette crystals in A. excelsa. Preliminary phytochemical analysis of the stem barks revealed the presence alkaloids, saponins, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, and terpenoids commonly in both the plants. Chromatographic study (HPTLC analysis) shows 9 and 7 spots in short UV and 5 and 4 spots in long UV of Shyonaka (Oroxylum indicum) and Aralu (Ailanthus excelsa)respectively.