POLLENS-A TOOL FOR PHARMACOGNOSY

Medicinal plants are the natural sources of drugs to cure various ailments. There are number of ancient literatures about the natural drugs, these literatures are usually found in Sanskrit and in vernacular language. Names of these botanicals are based on the morphology of officinal part. Now a day most of the phyto-pharmaceutical companies are depends on wanders for raw material supply in bulk. The wanders were collecting herbs in the wild without knowing the difference among the herbs, sometimes intentionally. In case of closely related species, it is very difficult to identify and differentiates the species. Our approach is to investigating the pollens of medicinal plants. Pollens play a very important role to identify the species due to their uniqueness in the shape, apertures, polarity, ornamentations and symmetry. Present investigation was conducted on pollens of 25 medicinal plants of varied habits belonging to 12 families of angiosperms. Medicinal plants Cardiospermum canescens. Wall and Cardiospermum halicacabum. L., belongs to Sapindaceae have triangular shaped pollens but they have difference in the apex of their angular structure. Whereas in Malvastrum coromandelianum. (L) Garcke, Hibiscus sabdariffa. L and Abelmoschus moschatus. Medik, belonging to Malvaceae, all three medicinal plants have almost spheroidal pollen grains and there is difference in spine’s shape, arrangement and density. Investigated pollens of 25 medicinal plant species are unique in any one or more features of pollen parameters. Pollens of botanicals belonging to the same genus or different genus of the same family may have a similar shape and structure but there is a minor difference in the shape, aperture, polarity and other parameters of the pollens. Each botanical has its own unique pollen as a finger print. So pollen can be used as a one of the parameter in pharmacognostic studies of natural drugs in addition to organoleptic, microscopic, physico-chemical and other parameters. It can be include to The Ayurvedic Pharmacopeia of India.