Indonesian Mirabilis jalapa Linn. : A Pharmacognostical and Preliminary Phytochemical Investigations

Introduction: Mirabilis jalapa Linn. is an important medicinal plant and used extensively by the people from different countries for the treatment of several disorders. The plant was the raw material for the herb-drug product, so some parameters identified were needed to ensure the safety, quality and efficacy of the product. Objective: The aim of this study was to undertake pharmacognostical studies to fulfill the work required for the identification the M. jalapa plant, which is collected from the Bogor area, Indonesia. Methods: Macroscopic and microscopic evaluation, fluorescence standards, phytochemical screening and physicochemical parameters were carried out on the above plant. Results: The parameters values of total ash, water soluble and acid insoluble ash were obtained 11.81, 5.06 and 0.41%, respectively. Moisture content, alcohol, water and ether soluble extractive were found to be 12.41, 11.02, 18.63 and 7.17% respectively. The results of preliminary phytochemical analysis of aqueous ethanolic extract of this drug were positive for alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, steroid, triterpenoids, saponin, phenols, glycosides and carbohydrate. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) of alcoholic, chloroform and aqueous extracts showed 9, 7 and 4 spots respectively. Conclusion: The present study on botanical pharmacognosy and TLC profile of this plant above thus provides useful information for correct identification and quality control parameters for the crude drugs, and also will be useful in making monograph of the plant.