Pharmacognostic study of Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp. plant used for medicinal food by Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, India

Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp.is used as a medicinal food plant among tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh, India. The shoot of the herb is used as vegetable as well as a medicine to control high blood pressure. This herb is one of the widely used and well-known medicinal food plants in North East India. The present study was carried out to discourse the Pharmacognostic characters of the Clerodendrum colebrookianum shoot. The anatomical discourse revealed up the main vascular bundle and lateral vascular bundle with well developed central pith, secondary xylem, and conspicuous endodermis with the outer surface covered by numerous multicellular trichomes. The fluorescence study of powder shows dull green to brownish in daylight and ash colour to dark brown under UV light. The plant sample contains total ash of 11.15%, the acid in-soluble ash is 1.7% and water-soluble ash is 8%. Methanol gave the highest extractive value with 12.56% while petroleum ether gave the lowest extract of 1.40%. Alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, saponin, glycosides, carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids, fixed oils and fats were found positive but volatile oil was not recorded in all six different solvents used in the phytochemical screening. The present study characterises the diagnostic Pharmacognosy features of C. Colebrookianum, and would give useful data to differentiate the authentic drug sample from the adulterated sample