Morphology and Microscopical Studies of Leaves, Stem and Roots of Trianthema portulacastrum Linn. Tella galijeru (Aizoaceae)

Chandupatla Rahul Reddy¹, Kanakam Vijayabhaskar^2*, Madugula Srikanth¹, Pingali Srinivasa Rao¹

¹St. Peter’s Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vidyanagar, Hanamkonda,

Warangal Urban, Telangana-506001 –India

²Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, St. Peters Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Warangal

*Corresponding Author E-mail: kvbhaskar3743@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Objective: To establish quality control parameters of a locally occurring medicinal plant, Trianthema portulacastrum Linn. Tella galijeru (Aizoaceae) is a diffuse, prostrate, branched herb, upto 30-65 cm long weed. Methods: In pharmacognostic studies different types of evaluations were carried on microscopic, macroscopic, fluorescence analysis and organoleptic evaluations. Results: The organoleptic, macroscopic, microscopic characters results of this study could be used for the quality control of the crude drug, Number of stomata present per square millimeter of epidermis of leaf. Conclusions: This study provides the scientific data for the proper identification and establishment of standards for the use of Trianthema portulacastrum Tella galijeru.

KEYWORDS: Trianthema portulacastrum Linn. Tella galijeru, Stomatal index, Palisade ratio, Chloral hydrate, Evaluation, Transvers section, iodine, Phloroglucinol, 60% HCL.

INTRODUCTION

Medicinal plants are playing very active role in traditional medicines for the treatment of various ailments (1). However a key obstacle, which has hindered the promotion in use of alternative medicines in the developed countries. There is a need for the record of all the research work carried out on traditional medicines in the form of documentation. It becomes extremely important to make surety about the standardization of the plant and parts of plant to be used as a medicine. For the process of standardization, we can use different techniques and methodology to achieve our goal in the stepwise manner e.g. pharmacognostic studies.

These steps and processes are helpful in identification of the plant material. Correct characterization and quality assurance. Trianthema portulacastrum Linn. (Aizoaceae) is a diffuse, prostrate, branched herb, upto 30-65 cm long weed. perennial herbs; leaves simple, often fleshy, opposite, alternate or falsely whorled, stipules scarious or 0, flowers regular, hermaphrodite or rarely polygamous, in cymes or fascicles, rarely solitary, calyx of 4-5, sepals free or rarely adnate to the ovary, usually persistent, petals usually 0, when present small, stamens perigynous or hypogynous, definite or indefinite, sometimes with staminodes; filaments free or connate, anthers oblong; ovary free, 2-5 celled, syncarpous or rarely apocarpous, ovules many in each carpel, axile or solitary basal, styles as many as the carpels, fruit usually capsular, dehiscing loculicidally or circumscissile, some times of indehiscent cocci, seeds many or 1 in each carpel, usually reniform, compressed, testa membranous or crustaceous, often pitted or tuberculate, curved or annular embryo. Leaves obovate; Flowers solitary, sessile, sheathed by the base of the petiole. Taking in view its importance, this study was designed to evaluate pharmacognostic parameters and develop its monograph.

Morphology:

Plants are diffuse, prostrate, branched herbs glabrous; thickened and flattened at the nodes, Leaves - petioled, opposite, unequal, one of the lower pair much smaller than the other (Fig 2), entire, sub-fleshy, leaf blade obovate to orbicular, or oblong, 1.5-3.5 × 1-3 cm, sub-succulent, purplish on margins, base cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse, apiculate, petioles of each pair connected at the base by stipuliform membranous, Flowers - small, white or bright pink, Stem - more or less angular, glabrous or pubescent, much branched; axillary, solitary in pouch or between forks of branches: Root- a taproot system with fibrous hairs. Fruit - a capsule, capsules circumscissile, glabrous, partly concealed in the petiolar hood; the upper part carrying away 1-2 seeds, the lower 2- many seeded. Flowering - June to October, Fruiting - July to December, Seeds are reniform, muriculate and dull black in colour with epigeal germination (2). Seeds of T. portulacastrum germinate between 20- 45°C, with an optimum at 35°C. More than 50% of fresh seeds germinate within 4–8 days of incubation

Ethnomedicinal properties:

T. portulacastrum herb are traditionally used as analgesic, stomachic, laxative, treatment of blood disease, anaemia, inflammation, and night blindness. The plant is alexiteric, analgesic, stomachic and laxative and cures bronchitis, piles, ascites and heart diseases. Decoction of the plant is used as vermifuge and cure of rheumatism. Powdered root is abortifacient and cathartic and used in asthma, amenorrhoea and to remove obstruction of the liver. The leaves are diuretic and used in oedema, dropsy and ascites. The plant cures “Kapha” bronchitis, heart diseases of the blood, anemia, inflammations, “Vata” piles and ascites. A decoction of the herb is used as a vermifuge and is useful in rheumatism. It is also an antidote to alcoholic person (3).

Root- Antipyretic, analgesic, spasmolytic, deobstruent, and anti-inflammatory. The root applied to the eye to cures corneal ulcers, itching, dimness of sight, and night blindness. The root is cathartic and abortifacient with irritant properties. A decoction of the herb is used as an antidote to alcoholic poison. Leaves have been reported to be diuretic, and therefore useful in the treatment of edema and ascites (4-5)

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Plant material:

The fresh plant Trianthema portulacastrum Linn. was collected from local area of Warangal and authenticated by the Dr. K. Raju, professor, Department of Botany, Kakatiya University Warangal collection number 993.

Pharmacognostic evaluation:

Macroscopic characters:

Morphological characteristics such as color, odor, and taste of the whole plant of Trianthema portulacastrum were observed with naked eye or with the aid of a magnifying lens.

Microscopic characters:

Fresh parts like leaves, stem, roots of Trianthema portulacastrum plant transverse sections were cut and placed on glass slide. Few drops of chloral hydrate were added and just warmed it to obtain clear sections. Few drops of glycerin were added (mounting agent). Further staining of thin sections was done by safranin dye, phloroglucinol, hydrochloric acid, iodine, 66% Sulphuric acid, sudan red III, rhuthenium red, acetic acid for staining xylem and phloem cells, mucilaginous, vascular bundles, calcium oxalate crystals, cuticle respectively, and visualized under scanning electron microscope (Zeiss Company. EVO/LS10).

Stomatal number:

It is an average number of stomata present per square millimeter of epidermis of leaf. Stomatal index is the percentage in which the number of stomata forms to the total number of epidermal cells. Stomatal index is S伊100/ (E+S). Where S is the stomata per unit area, E is the number of epidermal cells in the same unit area. For calculating stomatal index a washed and cleaned piece of leaf was taken and both upper and lower epidermises were peeled with the help of forceps. Stomatal index was calculated by using above given formula

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Macroscopic characters:

Standardization is an important step for authentication and identification of plants. Macroscopy of stem of Trianthema portulacastrum was carried out using naked eye and the characteristics observed are: stems are round shaped, hairy, and solid [Table 1].

Microscopic characters:

Microscopic characters of transverse section of the stem were studied using scanning electron microscope, and the transverse section of stem showed the presence of cork cells and pith.

Table 1: Organoleptic features of stem of Trianthema portulacastrum

Organoleptic Features	Leaf	Stem	Root
Arrangement	Opposite	-	-
Color	Green	Green	White
Odor	Less	Less	Less
Taste	Mask	Mask	Mask
Shape	Obovate	cylindrical	cylindrical
Outer surface	Smooth and fleshy	Labrous surface with green	Hairy root with white enlarged nodes

Microscopic characteristic:

Petiole The transverse section of T. portulacastrum petiole is shown in Figure2. The petiole was bean shaped. The single layered upper and lower epidermis was surrounded by thin cuticle layer (Fig. 1a). The epidermis was covered with unicellular and multicellular, 2-3 celled trichomes. Ground tissue was parenchymatous, vascular bundles were three in numbers, the size of the vascular bundles varied from centre to leaf margin i.e. large too small. They were centripetal arranged i.e. xylem surrounded by the phloem (Fig.2b)

Leaf:

The transverse section of T. portulacastrum leaf (Tella Galejeru) is shown in Figure2. The leaf lamina was dorsi ventral in nature. The upper epidermis and lower epidermis were single layered. The palisade tissue was single layered on the upper surface; it was covered with thick cuticle (Fig. 2a-b). The mesophyll was small, consisted of 4-7 layered. T.S. passing through the mid rib region showed vascular bundles towards the ventral surface and it was surrounded by palisade tissues. Centrally located conjoint collateral vascular bundles were surrounded by spongy parenchymatous cells. The xylem was surrounded by phloem. The paracytic stomata were present in upper and lower epidermis (Fig. 2c).

A. Lower epidermis B. mesophyll C. palisade tissue D. spongy parenchymatous cells

A. non lignified trichomes

A. paracytic stomata.

Stomatal number:

Stomatal index is S伊100/ (E+S). Where S is the stomata per unit area.

S.I =10/58X100 =17.24

Stem:

The transverse section of T. portulacastrum stem is shown in Figure3. The epidermis was single layered thick walled, narrow, small and it was surrounded by thick cuticle layer. The unicellular and multicellular trichomes were present on the outer surface of the epidermis. The cortex region consisted of 6-8 layers. The vascular bundles were present in the pith region. The plant showed secondary growth, phloem was present below the xylem. The vascular bundles were surrounded by polygonal parenchymatous cells, vascular bundles were conjoint, collateral, close type, arranged in a ring form (Fig. 3a). The vascular bundles were eight to ten in number without cambium ring, pith was made up of well-developed parenchymatous tissue (Fig. 3b). The xylem was well developed and consisted of vessels, fibres, metaxylem and xylem parenchyma. Phloem consisted of sieve tubes, companion cells and phloem parenchyma, oil globules, calcium oxalate crystals (Fig. 3c). Plenty of starch grains present in iodine slide (fig 4d.)

1A. cortex region. B. parenchymatous tissue, C. vessels, fibres, metaxylem

2A. Vessels, fibres, metaxylem,

3A. Companion cells and phloem parenchyma B. oil globules, calcium oxalate crystals B. starch grains, C. pith.

Root:

The specific characteristics of T.S determined by microscopic investigation spiral vessels, annual vessels, bordered pitted vessels, pitted vessels, sclerenchymatous cells, They were centripetal arranged i.e. xylem surrounded by the phloem, Vascular bundles are arranged in parallel rays (fig.1a) and calcium oxalate crystals, oil globules etc. (fig.b)

A. xylem surrounded by the phloem, B. bordered pitted vessels,

A. Sclerenchymatous cells, oil globules

DISCUSSION:

Pharmacognostic studies are not part specific. All parts of the plant are important and show therapeutic efficacy, though their efficacy varies. Hence pharmacognostic studies should be done for the part of the plant which is under investigation. Some of the examples of pharmacognostic studies of different parts reported in the literature are root (6), leaf stem and root of Ageratum conyzoides and Asparagus officinalis (7-8) leaf (9). Aerial parts of Achyranthes aspera (10) The organoleptic, macroscopic, microscopic characters results of this study could be used for the quality control of the crude drug. They will also help to maintain the efficacy and identity of the drug and will prevent mishandling of the drug.

CONCLUSION:

The weed Trianthema portulacastrum (Tellagalejeru) considered and widely used in Indian Medicinal Systems since the few decades. The plant attracted researchers and scientists with its several chemical properties and the intensive research is essential towards this herb. These parameters can be used as reference standards of this plant and also help in preparation of a monograph.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The authors are thankful to Management of St. Peter’s Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Warangal for their continuous support.

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Received on 20.10.2019 Modified on 28.10.2019

Res. J. Pharmacology & Pharmacodynamics.2019; 11(4):132-136.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5836.2019.00023.5