Morphological, anatomical and preliminary phytochemical characterization of Buddleja madagascariensis Lam.

Abstract

Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life which includes all the plants and animals that live and grow on the Earth, all the habitats in which they survive, and all the natural processes of which they are a part. The earth supports an incredible array of biodiversity. Globally around 1.75 million species have been described and about 14 million species are estimated to be on earth. India is the country with large ecological diversity (from sea levels to highest mountainsforests, grasslands, wetlands, coastal and marine and desert). India’s total geographical area is 692,027 km2 and contribute about 2.4% of world total landmass and comes under 17 mega diversity country in the world (Singh & Dash, 2013). About 7-8% of world biodiversity is contained by India, in which it contributes in the presence of 11.4% of world’s flora (Karthikeyan, 2009). India is diverged with 47513 species of plants are known yet, 28% of which are endemic to the country. The Northern part of India harbors a great diversity of plants because of the majestic Himalayan range. The Himalayan region of India is bestowed with a variety of natural resources which have been exploited by mankind since times immemorial. Samant and Pant (2003) revealed that 1748 species were native to Himalayas and about 493 species were exotic, it indicates that these species had the ability to establish in diverse environmental conditions. Out of 15,000 species of flowering plants about 17% are considered to be of medicinal value (Jain, 1968). Medicinal and Aromatic plants constitute great economic and strategic value for Asia and Pacific. It has been estimated that about 30% of pharmaceutical are derived from green plants and this percentage has raised considerable in recent years. India has about 8,000 species of known medicinal plants and about 1,000 plants have been used in the traditional system of medicine viz., Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha, while tribal use 7500 plant species for medicinal purposes (Anon,1998a,b).Medicinal plants possesses appetizers, emollient, cooling, astringent (Ocimum basilicum), hypertensive (Rauvolfia serpentina), analgenic, antipyretic (Andrographis panniculata), antioxidant (Aloe barbadensis) properties. Medicinal and aromatic plants are used in the pharmaceutical industries in the preparation of herbal products as well as value added and consumer articles like cosmetics, tooth paste, soap etc (Chopra ,1956). Using Morphological, anatomical and preliminary phytochemical characterization of Buddleja madagascariensis Lam.