Physicochemical standardisation of the homoeopathic drug Rumex acetosella and its comparison with another homoeopathic drug, Rumex crispus

Background: Rumex acetosella, a relatively new drug in the homoeopathic system, is traditionally used for treating inflammation, diabetes and gastrointestinal problems, especially diarrhoea. Objective: The aim of this work is to report physicochemical standardisation of the homoeopathic drug, Rumex acetosella. Further, we propose our simple and economical method to differentiate it with a closely related species, Rumex crispus. Materials and Methods: The physicochemical study measuring several parameters was done. The pH of the mother tincture (MT) and the water extract was measured and compared. Furthermore, the chemical composition of the Rumex acetosella MT were compared with taxonomically closely related Rumex crispus MT by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Results: The results show a strong relationship between the extracting solvent's polarity and its extracting power. A simple TLC study shows a strong correlation between two drugs of the same genus, Rumex, but they can be differentiated by their unique spots. Conclusion: Our study not only provides the physicochemical standards for the drug Rumex acetosella but also shows that a simple analytical technique, a manual TLC can easily be used to distinguish two taxonomically close homoeopathic drugs.