Pharmacognostic evaluation of ayurvedic drug sariva and its commonly known adulterant and substitutes

Abstract

Sariva is an important Ayurvedic drug designated to Hemidesmus indicus L. in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Roots of this plant are used either singly or as an ingredient in various Ayurvedic formulations and claimed to be useful in cough, fever, inflammation, gout, menorrhagia, blood purification, kidney and urinary disorders. Due to its high commercial demand, locals in different parts of India use few other species, namely, Ichnocarpus frutescens (L.) W. T. Aiton, Decalepis salicifolia Wight & Arnand Cryptolepis buchanani Roem. & Schult. in name of Sariva. We carried out a comparative pharmacognostic evaluation of all the four species sold in name of Sariva to check the possible adulterants or substitute to the genuine one i.e., Hemidesmus indicus. These developed diagnostic (pharmacognostical) markers based on the physicochemical parameters and vanillin content will be useful in quality check for the bulk procurement by various herbal drug industries.