Comparative foliar epidermal, chemomicroscopic and physico -chemical evaluation of the leaves of Phyllanthus muellerianus and Phyllanthus fraternus in Zaria, Nigeria
Keywords:
epidermal, organoleptic, macroscopic, microscopic', Phyllanthus muellerianus, Phyllanthus fraternusAbstract
Pharmacognostic assessment was carried out on the foliar epidermal features of the fresh leaves of Phyllanthus muellerianus and Phyllanthus fraternus by examining their organoleptic, macroscopic, and microscopic features. Chemomicroscopic, and physicochemical evaluation of the dry powdered leaves were also carried out, to give quality identification, and also to ascertain the purity of the crude drug. The fresh leaves of the two plants were collected from Samaru, Zaria, in September 2021. The organoleptic and macroscopic characters of the leaves were evaluated by using sense organs to determine their taste, texture, colour and odour. The microscopic examination of anatomical features such as stomatal size, density, index, frequency, types, epidermal cell shapes, vein islet number, and palisade cells were determined. P. muellerianus has a simple leaf while, P. fraternus has bipinnate compound leaf. They both have an elliptical shape, indistinct odour, and bitter taste, P. muellerianus was hypostomatic, P. fraternus was amphistomatic. The stomatal complex type on P. muellerianus was paracytic, stomatal index of 27.69%, while, P. fraternus was anisocytic, stomatal index of 19.86%. Chemomicroscopic examination of the powdered leaves revealed the presence of many components and inclusion. It was concluded that the variation of the stomata features will greatly help in the delimitation, identification, and classification of the two species.
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