PHARMACOGNOSTIC STUDIES ON THE SPINE OF ZANTHOXYLUM RHETSA (ROXB.)DC.

Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC. known to the Kanikkars as “Malvapoou” is an important medicinal plant. The Kanikkar tribe, inhabitants of the Agasthiarmalai Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, applied the paste prepared by rubbing the hard spines on the rock along with water on the breast to give relief from pain and increase lactation in nursing mothers. From the exhaustive literature survey, it is found that so far no proper pharmacognostical and phytochemical studies of spine of Zanthoxylum rhetsa have been reported. The present investigation deals with the pharmacognostic studies of the spine of the said plant. Pharmacognostic studies include microscopic, physicochemical constants (ash & extractive values), fluorescence analysis and preliminary phytochemical evaluations