Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1.
MACROSCOPICAL TESTS
Acaciae gummi
Agar
Althaeae folium et radix
Farfarae folium
Lichen islandicus
Lini semen
Malvae sylvestris flos
Psyllii semen
Tiliae flos
Gummi arabicum
Tragacantha
Trigonellae foenugraeci semen
Maydis amylum
Oryzae amylum
Solani amylum
Tritici amylum
Cichorii radix
Cyamopsidis semen
Graminis rhizoma
Taraxaci radix et folium
Mel
Plantaginis ovatae semen
Plantaginis ovatae seminis tegumentum
Verbasci flos
2. MICROSCOPICAL TESTS
Powdered drugs: Amylum maydis
Amylum oryzae
Amylum solani
Amylum tritici
Cross section:
4. QUANTITVE DETERMINAnON
4.1 Swelling value
4.2 Enzymatic degradation of starch
1. MACROSCOPICAL TESTS
Amylum maydis - Maize starch
Zea mays L. Poaceae (Gramineae)
Ph.Hg. VIII., Ph. Eur.
Amylum solani - Potato starch
Solanum tuberosum L. Solanaceae
Ph.Hg. VIII., Ph.Eur.
Amylum tritici - Wheat starch
Triticum aestivum L.
Poaceae (Gramineae)
Ph.Hg. VIII, Ph. Eur.
Amylum oryzae -Rice starch
Oriza sativa L. Poaceae (Gramineae)
Ph.Eur.
Starches are white to pale creamish or greyish-white powders or irregular masses which
crepitate when crushed: odourless and al
most tasteless.
The root pieces are cylindrical, not ramified. The thicker pieces in commerce are split in
two. Theyare 10 to 30 cm long, 1 to 2 cm thi ck, white or yellowish white in colour, with
brown spots where root branches have been cut off. Bast fibres can be pulled off in fine
threads from the root surface. When broken, the cortex is hardly dusting. The cortex
breaks in filamentary, the xylem in splintery form. The cross section is white, except for
the circular cambium, which is brownish yellow. Observed through a hand magnifier, the
moistened cortex is annual and lamellar, the xylem radial.
The leaf has a short petiole, it is thi ck, on both surfaces densely
covered with velvety hairs: greyish green, silky.
The lamina is ovate or cordate, with acuminate apex, obtuse
base and irregulary crenated-dentate margin. The upper leaves
the are vaguely obtusely pinnated lobate, on the lower leaves the
3 to 5 lobes be come more distinct with a centrallobe much longer
than the others.The leaf is plicate between the veins, its pinnate
venation strongly protrudes on the abaxial surface.
Linaceae
Asteraceae (Compositae)
Root and rhizome yielding the drug are 15 to 20 cm long and 1 to 2 cm thick. Reddish
brown outside, greyish white inside. On the cross-section of the root softened in water
numerous wide concentricai belts in the cortex, readly visible to the naked eye. Xylem
yellowish ad hardly radial structure. The transversaIly annular rhizome has several
heads. It continues in the main root, which is lengtwise wrinkled, striated and slightly
ramified only. Even not farinaceous fracture.
Asteraceae (Compositae)
.
Lichen islandicus - Iceland Moss
Cetr'aria islandica L. (Ach)
Parmeliaceae
The thaIlus is strap-like, deeply divided, shrubby and forms entagled mats, 1-15 cm
high, only loosely attached to the substratum. The lobes are thin, either curled inwards
almost into tubes of fiat, shilling chestnut-brown on the upper surf ace and lighter on the
lower; the margins comewhat incised and ciliate.
Salep tuber - Orchid tuber
Orchis morio L.
Orchidaceae
The drug consist ofthe subglobular to ovoid tubers of the perennial herb.
Agar - Agar
Gelidium species
Ahnfeltia plicata (Huds.) Fries
Rhodophyta
Mimosaceae
Fabaceae
Althaeae folium
Cross-section. The structure of the le af is dorsiventral. The stellate trichomes of both
epidermises are composed of as many epidermal cells as they have rays. The basal
part of every trichome branch has aq sclereid-like thiekened wall. The stocky glandular
trichomes are composed of a short hasal (stem) part and of a multicellular vertcillate
gland bead. Some of the epidermal cells are larger and contain mucilage. The columned
parenchyma has sometimes two layers. In the spongy parenchyma sometimes. There
are larger mucilage cells as weIl as cells with c1ub-chaped calcium oxalate crystals. The
vascular bundle is collateral.
Althaeae radix
Cross-section. Part of the "external c011ex" is usually found outside. In the "internal
c011ex" there are medullary rays of 1 to 2 cell width, hard and seft phloem parts
altenating layers. The hast fibres of the hard pholem are free of lignin 'or but slightly
lignified, sometimes with a bifurcated tip. The soft phloem consists mainly of bast
parenchyma, with sporadic cells containing mucilage or club-shaped calcium oxalate
crystals and with somewhat compressed bundles of bast sieve tubes.
In the xylem, the medullary rays are also mostly two cells broad. The xylem rays are
mostly filled up with parenchymatous cells and sometimes with xylem fibres. The
tracheae and tracheids are arranged in small groups, with a major vascular group to be
found only in the
root. Both in the cortex and in the xylem, club-shaped calcium oxalate crystals and lots
of starch are to be found. The starch grains are simple, generally 3 to 5 um in length,
spherical, irregularly ovular or reniform. There are many mucilage cells also in the
corticai and xylem parenchyma. They are larger in size and have stratified mucilaginous
walls.
Powder test. The drug powder is white. Under the microscope, parechyma portions
filled with starch and grains can be bserved. The latter are various in shape (spherical,
ovular, reniform etc.) There is often a longitudinal fissure on them. The powder contains
colourless, largecavemed fibres, singly or in bundles, as weH as vessei fragments, clubshaped calcium oxalate crystals, colourless mucilage cells an small mucilage lumps. No
suberine parts can be seen.
Lini semen
Cross-section. In cross-section five layers of the seed coat. Epidermis radially somewhat
elongated, the tangential walls of its cells very thi ck, stratified and mucilaginous.
Celllumina mosdJ not recognizable. The hypoderma consists of a so call ed annular
layer of 2 to 3 rows of
fiat cells, whit small intercellularies between them. Further inside, a layer of sclereids,
consisting of 120 to 190 um long and 8 to 15 um wide elements, with thi ck, lignified,
simply pitted walls. Under the sclereids, severallayers of tangentially elongated, fIatened
transversal cells. The innermost pigment layer ofthe seed.coat consists of a single row
of square, reddish brown cells of pitted walls and containing phlobaphene.
Under the pigment layer 3 to 7 cell rows endosperm, with polyhedral thinwalled cells
containing numerous ale_ron granules and fixed oil drops. The thinwalled cells of the
embryo contain fix ed oil and heterogeneous aleuron granules of up to 20 um size,
consisting of a globoid and one or more crystalloids. Palisade layer and the bundle
primordia readily recognizable in the two cotyledons.
10
The colour disappears from heating or if R- sodium hydroxide is added, but reappears at
cool ing, or if acidified by R-hydrochloric acid.
\/
Amylose
Amylopectin
3.1.2 Quantitative tests
Soluble starch. Shake 1 g in 10 ml of cold water and fitter. Add to filtrate one drop of 0.1
N iodine solution. The filtrate may tum yellow or reddish, but must not tum blue.
11
3.3 Mucilage
Althaeae radix Tiliae flos
Make 5% suspension from 2.5 g of crude drug with 50 ml water, left to extract on 20 oC,
and mix a few times. Filtrate on millI, squeeze out the moisture. Centrifuge for 10 minute
(4500/ min) due to eliminate starehes. (The starches take place on the bottom of
centrifuge tube). For testing succesfull elimination of starches may add Lugol-solution
Add 4x quantity of etil-*alkohol to the mucilage solution during mixing it. The extracted
mucilage precipitates. Centrifuge the mixture, then dry mucilage on 60,C
3.4 AduIteration of honey by artificial invert sugar
It can be examined by detecting furfurol, which gives a red colour with resorcinol in
hydrochloric acid. It has to be noted that certain amount of furfurol may be formed in
genine honey by prolonged heating or lengthy storage
5 g of honey is carefully mixed with lOg of chloroform in a porcelan mostar. The mixture
is filtrered and the chloroformic phase is evaporeted in a separate porcelan disk. To the
residue a few drops of fteshly prepared resorsinol solution is added ( 1 % resorcin in cc.
HCL) The colour is pinkish or light orange for a short time, but cant be red for longer
period of time.
4. QUANTITY DETERMINA TIONS
Drug (g)
Agar-agar
Althaeae folium
Althaeae radix
Farfarae folium
Lini placentae farina
Lini semen
Psvllii semen
1.0
1.0
0.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
Swelling value
13