Important Indian Medicinal Plants of Global Interest

Dr. P. Pushpangadan
Director General
Amity Institute for Herbal and Biotechnology
Products, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology,
Trivandrum-695014, Kerala, India

Food and medicine had been the inseparable companions of humans from
the very beginning of his evolution. The early man obtained his medicine
from his immediate surroundings. Over the millennia that followed the most
effective ones were selected by the process of trial, error or by empirical
reasoning or even by experimentation, made conscious selection and the best
among them became a part of ethnomedicine tradition. In many eastern cultures
such as India, China, Egypt and the Middle East, this experience was
systematically recorded and incorporated into regular systems of medicine
and that later became the Materia Medica of traditional medicine. A significant
aspect of traditional medicine is that it is mostly location specific and that is
almost autonomous in character and rooted deep in communitys social life,
tradition and cultural values. In fact this was the main reason for WHO to
recognize the intrinsic importance of plant based traditional medicine while
declaring its goal of Health for all by 2000 AD. WHO emphasized the strategic
role of traditional medicine in meeting the primary health care needs of the
rural people of the world. The major resource base of all the traditional system
of medicine is medicinal plants with the introduction of modern medicine in
19 th century followed by the fast advances made in biological sciences,
chemistry and technological tools brought in quick healing devises, fast and
powerful diagnostic tools and surgical interventions in the 20th century. Such
developments in modern medicine caused a rapid decline in traditional
medicine particularly in developed countries, but the plant-based remedies
continues to meet the health care needs of almost 80 % population of the
world over today. Towards the end of 20th century, there began a revival of
interest in traditional medicine. Medicinal Plants continued to play a very
significant role in the healthcare of humankind. It used to be the main
resource base of almost all the traditional healthcare systems. Over seventy
thousand angiosperm plants out of the three lakh angiosperm plants recorded
so far in the world are used for medicinal purpose by the people of different
cultures world over.

07-AYU-N7.PM70 P 22-4-2006 I
 IMPORTANT INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GLOBAL INTEREST 95

Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM)

The Indian subcontinent is endowed with one of the richest expertises
in traditional medicine. The traditional medicine in India functions through
two social streams. One is the local folk stream (the local health traditions),
which is prevalent at villages and tribal set-ups in India. The carriers of these
traditions are millions of house wives thousands of traditional birth
attendants, bonesetters, practitioners in acupressure, eye treatment, snake bite
treatment etc. and the traditional village level herbal physician, the Vaidyas
or tribal physicians in the tribal area. These local health traditions thus
represent an autonomous community system of health delivery at the village
level, which runs parallel to the state supported system. Its potential goes
largely unnoticed because of the dominant western medicine.
A second level of traditional health system is the scientific or classic
system. This consists of codified and organized medical wisdom with
sophisticated theoretical foundations and philosophical explanations and
expressed in thousand of regional manuscripts covering treatises on all branches
of medicine and surgery. Systems like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Amchi and
Tibetan are the expressions of this stream.

Ayurveda
Ayurveda is perhaps the oldest among the organised traditional
medicine. It has gone through several stages of development in its long
history. It spread with Vedic and Hindu culture as far in east as Indonesia
and to the west it influenced the ancient Greek, who developed a similar form
of medicine. The Budhists added many new insights to it and they took it
along with their religion to many different countries. In this way, Ayurveda
became the basis of the healing tradition of Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma and other
Budhist lands and exchanged/ influenced Chinese and Greek medicine.
Ayurveda is thus a rich tradition, adaptable to many different times, cultures
and climates.
Ayurvedic healing has two levels: one for the layman and self-care, the other
for the health care professional, the physician. The first outlines a general
constitution or life style treatment for health enhancement and disease prevention.
It has many common home remedies for different diseases. It is important to realize
that many of our diseases can best be treated by ourselves. Often a few simple
therapies done as part of our daily regime can be effective. It is only when our
life style is out of harmony that more severe diseases arise, and more specialized
and complicated health care becomes necessary.
The second level provides some of this specialized Ayurvedic medical
knowledge and outline more technical and more sophisticated and complicated
remedies handled by a health care professional.
96 AYURVEDA AND ITS SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

Strength & weakness of ISM

The promotive, preventive, corrective and curative approach in health care
and the medicinal plants processing such properties are indeed the strength of
the Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM). The ancient masters of Ayurveda and
Siddha organized, codified and synthesized the medicinal wisdom with
sophisticated theoretical foundation and philosophical explanations. They
adopted the fundamental doctrines of Darshana philosophy, particularly the
Nyaya, Sankhya and Vaiseshika, which encompassed all sciences physical,
chemical, biological and spiritual. While Darshana philosophers discussed and
debated their theories, Ayurvedic masters put them to practical test and applied
them successfully to interpret the laws governing the material objects of the
universe and the dynamics of biological evolution. The modern physicists and
obilogists are now demonstrating the precision and exactness of many such
cosmological theories and other rationale and hypothetical assumptions
intuitively discovered and developed by the ancient Indian sages. It is quite
logical to say that a serious and in-depth study and research on the vast treasure
trove of Ayurvedic and Siddha Systems of Medicine, particularly their theoretical
base and philosophical explanation may open up new exciting avenues of
knowledge in understanding diseases and health.
The holistic approach of ISM, more particularly of Ayurveda, which
internalize all aspects of human health and diseases, is perhaps the greatest
contribution of Indian medicine. It is the whole human being, not merely the
disease entity that forms the focal point of management and the treatment in
ISM. But due to various reasons, the rational approach in Ayurveda began to
decline some 1000 to 1200 years back.
Orthodoxy, dogmatism and superstition etc., crept in during the course of
last over1000 to 1500 years and it had adversely affected the further growth and
development of traditional medicine in India. It has failed to adopt and assimilate
the fast developments that were happening in biological services. Also there
occurred various corrosions and erosions of the traditional wisdom and practice
leading to deterioration or even loss of many critical aspects of the ISM. Currently
ISM is confronted with problems of establishing appropriate references for fixing
standards and specifications of identity, purity, good manufacturing practices
etc. but attempts to evaluate and standardize the TM with the concept and
parameters of modern medicine was found conceptually wrong, unethical and
almost suicidal. Evaluations and standardization of TM have to be based on the
concept and practices of TM, but may utilize the advances made in modern
scientific knowledge and the tools and technology.
The global herbal medicine is about US$ 100 billion which is growing at
the rate of 10-15% annually and is expected to cross 5 trillion US$ by 2030. The
Indian share of the herbal World market is less than 2%, India set the target to
 IMPORTANT INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GLOBAL INTEREST 97

export of herbal drugs/products worth of Rs. 10,000 corers by 20101 . These targets
can be achieved by providing scientifically validated, safe and standardized
herbal products in domestic and international markets. Further, by rediscovery
of the connection between plants and health for launching a new generation of
botanical therapeutics that includes plant-derived pharmaceuticals,
multicomponent botanical drugs, dietary supplements, functional foods and plant-
produced recombinant proteins. Many of these products will soon complement
conventional pharmaceuticals in the treatment, prevention and diagnosis of
diseases.

Revival of Traditional Medicine (TM)

The revival of interest in natural drugs and the herbal products started in
the last decade mainly because of the widespread belief that green medicine is
healthier than synthetic products. This is mainly due to the increasing evidence/
realization of the health hazards associated with the harmful side effects of many
synthetic medicine and also the hazards associated with the indiscriminate use
of modern medicine such as antibiotics, steroids and other synthetic drugs. The
increasing popularity in plant-based drugs is now felt all over the world leading
to a fast growing market for plant based drugs pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals,
functional foods and even cosmaceuticals. This has led to the rapid spurt of
demand for health products like herbal tea, ginseng and such products of
traditional medicine during the 1980s. The health promotion and disease
precaution strategy in treatment is widely prevalent in oriental system; especially
the Indian (Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Amchi) and the Chinese Systems of
Medicine are finding increasing popularity and acceptance in the world over.
Because of this sweeping green wave a large number of herbal drugs and the
plant derived herbal products are sold in the health food shops all over the
developed countries. According to some healthcare experts there will be more
dieticians rather than physicians in coming years as many diseases can be
prevented and better health can be maintained if one takes the right kind of food
and nutrition which contains certain plants with specific functional attributes.

Therapeutic basis of ISM

It is now a well-established fact that the therapeutic actions of all drugs
including the traditional herbal remedies are due to the presence of
pharmacologically active chemical component(s). It is possible to identify
therapeutically active compounds by chemical/ biological screening methods. But
there are still certain inherent problems with the medicinal plants. A good number
of medicinal plants, particularly those used in Ayurveda, about 35-45 % are cross-
pollinated plants and therefore there exist a large number of genetic variants in
population, which account for the variation in chemical composition. Even the
98 AYURVEDA AND ITS SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

genetically similar plants behave differentially in different ecological, edaphic and

climatic conditions leading to differences in the chemical composition and
ultimately pharmacological action. The ancient Ayurvedic physicians probably
were aware of these facts as they insisted specific conditions in sourcing medicinal
plants. They made elaborate descriptions on habitat, edaphic, climate conditions
as well as the specific stage of growth and developmental stage of the plants
(such as pre flowering, post flowering, dormancy period etc.) for collection of
medicinal plants.
Ayurvedic pharmacology classifies medicinal plants into different groups
according to their actions. Of these the Rasayana group of plants are particularly
important from the global positioning point of view. The word Rasayana literally
means the path that Rasa takes (Rasa: plasma; Ayana: path). It is believed, in
Ayurveda that the qualities of the Rasadhatu influence the health of other dhatus
(tissues) of the body. Hence any medicine that improves the quality of Rasa
(Rasayana) should strengthen or promote the health of all tissues of the body.
Rasayana drugs act inside the human body by modulating the neuro-endocrino-
immune systems and have been found to be a rich source of antioxidants 2 . These
Rasayana plants are said to possess the following properties: they prevent
ageing, re-establish youth, strengthen life, brain power and prevent diseases 3,4 ,
all of which imply that they increase the resistance of the body against any
onslaught. Rasayana chikitsa is a specialized section of Ayurveda, which mainly
deals with the preservation and promotion of health by revitalizing the metabolism
and enhancing immunity. Rasayana therapy is done for a particular period of
time with strict regimen on diet and conduct. Rasayana drugs are very rich in
powerful antioxidants and are good hepatoprotective and immunomodulating
agents 5 . Rasayana is not a drug therapy, but is a specialized procedure practiced
in the form of rejuvenation recipes, dietary regimen and special health promoting
right conduct and behavior, i.e. Achara Rasayana . Shushruta (an ancient
Ayurvedic surgeon) while defining Rasayana therapy says that it arrests ageing
(Vayasthapam), increase life span (Ayushkaram), intelligence (Medha) and
strength (Bala) and thereby enable one to prevent disease4 . Rasayana enhances
the functions of the whole body system. Rasayana treatment for rejuvenation is
done after the system is thoroughly cleansed by Panchakarma therapy6 .
Panchakarma is essentially a pre-treatment equipping the body tissues for
Rasayana therapy. Shushruta observed that a person, whose system is not been
previously cleansed by proper purification remedies, cannot expect good results
with Rasayana treatment.

Panchakarma
Panchakarma is a method of purifying the body system by five methods
called Vamana (emesis), Virechana (purgation), Vasti (enema), including
 IMPORTANT INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GLOBAL INTEREST 99

Asthapana (medicated enema), Nasya (nasal medication) and Rakta moksha

(blood letting) 7 . According to the Caraka Samhita, one of the ancient treatises
of Ayurveda, if a disease is not subjected to Panchakarma , the rejuvenation
therapy may not be effective. Panchakarma is advised for treating broad category
of conditions like arthritis, rheumatism, neurological, muscular skeletal disorders
and also degenerative conditions like infertility, menstrual problems, obesity,
respiratory disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, etc. Panchakarma may be
administered with curative and corrective drugs along with having powerful
antioxidant activity8 . There has been a plenty of research on the plants used as
Rasayana drugs in order to reason them in the modern context. Studies have
been made of the herbs used in various Rasayana preparations and the effects
of Rasayana drugs on psychosomatic stress 9-13. Rasayana drugs have been
proven to treat epilepsy14 , convulsive disorders 15 and to reduce anxiety,
apprehension and keep the mind calm and cool16 . Plenty of study has been
undertaken to provide scientific evidence to the Rasayana d r u g s a s
immunomodulators and adaptogens. A detailed study concluded that Rasayana
preparations, which act both as herbal immunostimulant and adaptogens, regulate
the immunological and endocrine systems with relatively low doses, without
damaging the autoregulative functions of the organisms 17 . Rasayana drugs haven
been reported to treat generalized weakness18 and afford protection from
cyclophosphamide-induced luekopenia 19 . Rasayana thus seems to involve the
complex hypothalamo-pituitary-endocrine-psychoneuro-immunological axis/
pathway in human beings. The medicinal plants used in Rasayana thereby are
with powerful antioxidant activities and do not generally contain any toxic
phytochemicals.

Medicinal plants of ISM

Medicinal plants constitute the main resource base of ISM. It also uses
some material of animals and mineral origin in the preparation of some remedies
India has however, bewilderingly rich medicinal plants that created a matching
traditional knowledge system by the various communities inhabiting in the
different biogeographic regions in India. Diverse traditional medicare practices
prevalent in India attracted the attention of many western colonial rulers, traders
and explorer to study and document the plant wealth of India. The first among
the western explorers to India was Gracia de Ort (1563), a reputed Portuguese
pharmacist, who had documented about a dozen of Indian medicinal plants into
his personal Material Medica. Another outstanding and perhaps the first
comprehensive printed book on the natural plant resources of the Indian
subcontinent written in a European language was the twelve volume work on
Hortus Indicus Malabaricus (1687 1693) by Van Rheede tot Draakenstein,
the Dutch councillor of the erstwhile Malabar Province. Hortus Malbaricus deals
100 AYURVEDA AND ITS SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

with descriptions and illustrations of 742 plants growing in an around the then
province of Cochin in Kerala. Van Rheede published this monumental treatise
with collaboration of many including four renowned local physicians from Kerala:
Itti Achuthan, Ranga Bhatt, Vinayaka Pandit and Appu Bhatt. Hortus
Malabaricus signifies not only as the first classical work published on the
medicinal plant botany of the world, but also forms the basis of many new genera
and species described by Carl Linnaeus and subsequent botanists.
The classical Indian Systems of Medicine uses over 1500 plant species.
There are about 200 plant species of global interest and about 50 of them can be
prioritised on the basis of their proven safety and efficacy of over 1000 years.

Some Ayurvedic plants with noted/proven therapeutic activity

S.No. Plant name Therapeutic activity

1. Acorus calamus L. Tranquillizer
2. Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr. Anti-diarrhoea
3. Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. Atherpsclerotic syndrome
4. Andrographis paniculata Hepatoprotective and immunomodulator
(Burm. f.) Wall.
5. Asparagus racemosus Willd. Galactogogue, uterine sedation and
immunomodulator.
6. Boswellia serrata L. Antiarthritic & antiinflammatory
7. Bacopa monnieri (L.) Penn. Improve memory
8. Berberis asiatica DC. Antidiarrhoeal
9. Boerhavia diffusa L. Diuretic, anti-inflammatory
10. Cannabis sativa L. Psychoactive
11. Cassia fistula L. Cathartic
12. Cassia angustifolia Cardiotonic
13. Celastrus paniculatus Willd. Immunomodulator, memory enchancer
14. Centella asiatica (L.) Urban Memory enhancing, wound healing
15. Coccinivm fenestratum Hepatoprotective
16. Chlorophytum arundinaceum Baker Immunoenhancing
17. Chlorophytum borivalianum Immunoenhancing
Sabt. & Fern.
18. Commiphora mukul Hypolipidemic
(Hook. ex Stocks) Engl.
19. Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Hypolipidemic
Bhandari
(Contd.)
 IMPORTANT INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GLOBAL INTEREST 101

Some Ayurvedic plants with noted/proven therapeutic activity

S.No. Plant name Therapeutic activity

20. Convolvulus microphyllus Neural regeneration and synaptic
Sieb. ex Spreng.
21. Coptis teeta Wall. Febrifuge, antidiarrhoeal
22. Crocus sativus L. Cardiotonic
23. Curcuma longa L. Syn. Anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant,
C. domesticata Val. and anti-bacterial
24. Eclipta alba (L.) Hassk. Hepatoprotective
25. Embelia ribes Burm. f. Antifungal & anthelmetic
26. Evolvulus alsinoides L. Immunomodulators
27. Garcinia cambogioides (Graham) Royle Hyperlipidemic
28. Garcinia gummi-guta (L.) N. Robson Antiobese
29. Garcinia indica (Thouars) Choisy Hypolipidemic
30. Gloriosa superba Antitumer
31. Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) R. Br. Hypoglycemic
32. Momordica charantia L. Hypoglycemic
33. Nardostachys jatamansi DC. Neurotonic
34. Ocimum sanctum L. Anti-stress, adaptogenic
35. Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn. Hepatorprotective
36. Phyllanthus emblica L. Syn. Anti-oxidant
E. officinalis Gaertn.
37. Picrorrhiza kurrooa Royle ex Benth Antithepatotoxic
38. Piper longum L. Immunomodulator
39. Piper nigrum L. Bioavailability enhancer
40. Rauwolfia serpentina Benth. ex Kurz Anti-hypertensive
41. Rubia cordifolia L. Antistress carminative
42. Saraca asoca (Roxb.) De Wilde
43. Sida spp. (S. cordata (Burm.f.) Tranquilizer
Bross, Sida cordifolia L.)
44. Silibum marianum Gaertn. Hepatoprotective
45. Solanum melongena L. Antitussive
46. Swertia chirayita (Roxb. ex Flem) Karst. Adatogenic, Febrifuge
47. Terminalia chebula Retz. Antiaging
48. Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers Immunoenhancing, adaptogenic
49. Tribulus terrestris L. Diuretic, antihypertensive
50. Wedelia calendulacea Less Hepatoprotective
102 AYURVEDA AND ITS SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

New technologies are constantly being developed to isolate and identify

the components responsible for the activity of medicinal plants. But these
technologies should consider and possibly use the fact that the biological
activity of plant extracts often results from additive or synergistic effects of its
components. Another possibility is the qualitative and quantitative variations in
the content of bioactive phytochemicals, which are currently considered major
detriments in its use as a medicine. Different stresses, locations, climates, stage
of growth and developmental stage of the plant, microenvironments and physical
and chemical stimuli, often called elicitors, etc. are known to qualitatively and
quantitatively alter the content of bioactive secondary metabolites. The ancient
Ayurvedic experts seemed to know about such factors as they instructed such
specific directions/conditions for sourcing of medicinal plants. But these finer
details are not fully documented and was transmitted as unbroken tradition in
the form hands on training under the direct guidance and supervision of experts
and the details of such practical aspects of sourcing of medicinal plants and
their post harvest handling etc. are never documented. Enzymatic pathways
leading to the synthesis of the phytochemicals are highly inducible 20 . This is
particularly true for phytochemicals that are well documented for their
pharmacological activity, such as alkaloids 21 , phenylpropanoids 22 and
terpenoids23 whose levels often increase by two to three orders of magnitude
following stress or elicitation24 . Standardization, optimization and full control of
growing conditions should guarantee a cost-effective and quality-controlled
production of many plant-derived compounds. This kind of standardization and
quality control of the plant-based drugs will improve safety of these drugs and
promote its usage.
Sustained use of these botanicals or the plant based products, as
nutraceuticals will thus depend on the quality, safety and efficacy of these drugs.
The quality and standardization of these botanicals along with batch-to-batch
consistency are a must for ensuring the safety of these drugs as these are more
commonly available and are not regulated by any agency. Unless strict quality
control measures are followed, the use or the export potential of these drugs is
not going to change by any means. This is where other Asian countries like
China and Japan are ahead of others in the global market of the botanicals as
nutraceuticals or dietary supplements.
Protocol for standardization of medicinal plants
Variety of reasons has been cited for the need for scientific evaluation and/
corroded standardization. Most of the traditional knowledge about medicinal
plants was in the form of oral knowledge that had been eroded/corroded or
distorted due to a variety of reasons. Lack of proper documentation more
particularly the practical aspects/details of sourcing of medicinal plants and their
 IMPORTANT INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GLOBAL INTEREST 103

post harvest handling etc. was one of such reasons. Also there was no uniform
or standard procedure for maintaining the inventory and the practical knowledge
on the collection of medicinal plants were never properly documented. There is
a prevalence of using plants and plant based products in various contemporary
and traditional systems of medicine, without any written documentation or
regulation. Therefore, it is essential that such uses of natural products be
documented and studied in systematic manner and develops standard protocols
for collection, processing, packaging and storing, etc. Phytochemical
investigations along with biological screening to understand the therapeutic
dynamics of medicinal plants etc. will help in developing quality parameters.
The giant strides made by analytical and synthetic chemistry, electronics
and science in general, have immensely contributed to the development of the
science or biomedicine that has achieved miracles in medical practice.
Unfortunately, most of this modern therapeutics are so expensive that they are
beyond the reach of the vast majority of the worlds population. Also, there are
many ailments like cancer, liver disorders and arthritis etc, which has no
satisfactory cure in modern medicine but traditional medicines like Ayurveda and
Siddha claim to have satisfactory cure and management of such dreadful diseases.
Modern medicine generally serves only a minority (about 30 -35 %) of the total
population in the developing countries 25,26. The rest of the population attends
to its health needs through the traditional medicine, which is essentially based
on the use of easily accessible low-cost medicinal plants. Several considerations
make the use of medicinal plants desirable. Among them are: a) their low cost,
while the new synthetic drugs are becoming increasingly inaccessible to the vast
majority of people; b) often they are the only recourse available; c) research has
confirmed the presence of therapeutically active compounds such as alkaloids,
glycosides and others, justifying a good many practices of folk medicine; and d)
they have few, if at all, harmful side effects and hence their direct administration
in traditional medicine offers little risk of causing iatrogenic (drug induced)
disorders, unlike the modern synthetic drugs27 .
The capacity of chemists to modify a molecular structure is almost unlim-
ited, but the capacity to create new structures with therapeutic properties has
been found to be limited26 . Plants (and animals) offer thousands of new mol-
ecules 28,29. An intensive and extensive study of the naturally occurring molecules
identified as therapeutically active is desired urgently to come out with new thera-
peutic entities. The very large number of alkaloids and several other classes of
chemical compounds discovered during the 1970s and 1980s found to be phar-
macologically active serve as models for new synthetic compounds30 .
A number of plant-based drugs, such as vincristine, taxol, digoxin, quinine,
reserpine, ergotine, opioids, ephedrine, colchicine, rutin, coumarins, anthraquino-
nes, etc., are still a part of standard therapy. Most of these do not have any syn-
104 AYURVEDA AND ITS SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

thetic substitutes. Several other plant products are used in formulations that are
sold over the counter (OTC) in several countries. The role of plants in standard
therapy will certainly be enhanced several fold in future, provided we make the
move in the right direction.

Quality control and Standardization of medicinal plants used in ISM

Purity, batch to batch consistency in quality of medicinal plants are some
of the critical requirements of botanicals. The most important things for assuring
quality of botanical medicines require preparation of a comprehension passport
description of the species (passport data) as shown in Box-I. This include cor-
rect identification of the plant species, selection of the correct genotype of the
species, right edaphic and climatic conditions for its growing and right stage at
which the harvesting of the medicinal parts to be made and proper post harvest
handling etc. Factors influencing the biologically active phytochemicals profile
of medicinal plants of India are given in Box-II. A well defined protocol and stan-
dard operation procedure (SOP) from selection of the right genotype, cultivation
methods, harvesting, post harvest handling, preprocessing, storage and upto

Box-I: Particulars required for preparation of the

Passport data of medicinal plants

Correct taxonomic identification & authentication

Habit & Habitat
Reproductive biology
Identification of the right genotype
Study on the medicinal part: root, stem, bark, leaves, flowers,
fruits,nuts, gum, resins etc.
Collection details: Location, stage & development/ growth of
the plants, time, post harvest handling including storage
Organoleptic examination of raw drug:
Evaluation by means of sensory organs: touch, odour taste
Microscopic & molecular examination
Chemical composition (TLC, GLC, HPLC, HPTLC, HMR & Mass
spectroscopy)
DNA fingerprinting
Biological activity of the medicinal plant
Shelf life of raw drugs
Regulatory control
 IMPORTANT INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GLOBAL INTEREST 105

manufacturing need to be worked out and meticulously followed for herbal drugs.
It may be noted from the figure the various requirement of sourcing medicinal
plants. This include correct taxonomic identification & authentication, study on
the medicinal part: root, stem, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits, nuts, gum, resins etc.,
collection details: Location, stage & developmental stage or growth of the plants
for collection methods, pre-processing if any, storage etc. This is followed by the
organoleptic examination of raw drug i.e. evaluation by means of sensory organs:
touch, odour taste, microscopic & molecular examination, chemical composition
(TLC, GLC, HPLC, HPTLC, GC, capillary electrophorosis, DNA fingerprinting), bio-
logical activity of the whole plant, and shelf life of raw drugs. This is followed by
well defined Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and scientific validation in-
cluding toxicity evaluation, chemical profiling, pharmacodynamics effect of drug

Box-II: Factors influencing phytochemical profile of Medicinal Plants

The therapeutic effect of medicinal plants are due to the presence

of the biologically active chemicals which are mostly secondary
metabolites such as alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, coumarins,
flavonoids and terpenes, etc.
75% to 80% of the medicinal plants required in Traditional
Medicines (TM) is collected from wild
35% to 40% of the Medicinal Plants used in TM are cross-
pollinated species and hence there exists vast- intraspecific
genetic variability with respect to the morphological and
chemical constituents.
Genetic variants (at ploidy level or gene level) leading to the
variability in the chemical composition
Geographical and edaphic factors-altitude, soil composition,
microbial load/association, climate, temperature, etc.
Seasonal changes (rainfall, photoperiodism, drought, water
stress, etc.)
Seasonal variations for eg. the alkaloid composition in the leaves
of Adhatoda vascia has been recorded. It is reported to be as
lowest in February and March and highest in the months of
August, September and October. Similarly variation of alkaloid
contents based on the age of the plant is reported in Hoarrhena
antidysenterica
Association patterns including animals and insects
Lunar period
106 AYURVEDA AND ITS SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

in the body, pharmacokinetics absorption, distribution, metabolism, mechanism

of action and execution, proper dosage form, proper presentation and packing
and proper claim of therapeutic merits Compared with other drugs. This whole
process is summarized as below: Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Col-
lection/Harvesting and Post Harvest Handling & Storage Practices (GCP/ GHP &
GPHHSP), Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), Good Clinical Practices (GCP) and
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
Chemoprofiling using HPLC, HPTLC and GC have a great role in quality
control of medicinal plants (raw drugs) and in the finished herbal drugs. European
Pharmacopoeia gives assay of quinine type alkaloids and chinconine type
alkaloids. Cinchona bark using UV spectroscopy and US Pharmacopoeia include
an UV absorption test for the absence of foreign oils in oil of lemon and orange.
UV spectroscopic analysis has been used for the quantification and qualitative
detection of marker compounds from the herbal material. Infrared spectroscopy,
NMR and Mass spectroscopy have been used for the structure elucidation of
marker or active components of medicinal plants. As mentioned earlier the active
principles in most medicinal plants are highly variable. This include intrinsic
factors such as the genetic variations particularly in cross pollinated plants and
intrinsic factors such as agroclimatic, edaphic conditions, stage of growth and
developmental stage of the plant etc. to ensure a reasonable consistency in
quality and efficacy one needs to identify the right genotype and correct growing,
collection, and post harvest handling practises. Withania somnifera an important
medicinal plant of Ayurveda is reported to have three chemotypes depending
upon the presence of a class of closely related steroidal lactones like withanolides,
withaferin A etc. The content of withanolides and withaferin A and other biological
active compounds may vary depending upon the genotype, micro and macro
environment and developmental stage of the plant. All such finer details of the
medicinal plant species when compiled together; it is referred as the passport
data of the plant.
DNA based molecular markers are proving to be a versatile tool in the plant
genome analysis and in differentiating different genotypes. Various techniques
like Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Fragment Length Polymorphic
DNA (AFLP), Restricted Length Polymorphic DNA (RFLP) and Inter Simple
Sequence repeat (ISSR) etc are now being successfully used for such genetic
analysis of medicinal plants and also for the characterization of semiprocessed
and even fully processed herbal products. DNA markers are highly stable and
specific. It has immense applications in the standardization of medicinal plants
and its products.
Because of the multiple factors that affect the composition of active
ingredients in the final herbal product, some manufacturers have attempted to
create a more consistent product through standardization, which involves
 IMPORTANT INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF GLOBAL INTEREST 107

identifying certain unique chemical components of the herbs known as

markers and sourcing the raw materials (medicinal plants) showing a
consistent level of these markers in every final batch of the herbal product
need to be required to call the drug as a standard one. Currently, some herbal
markers are known to have pharmacological activity, but very few are known
to have clinical effects. Efforts should be made to identify such chemical
marker(s) that has specific clinical/ biological effect. Alternatively one can
make activity guided isolation and permuation combination of fraction to
determine the possible chemical combination having the clinical/ biological
effect. One common standardization process involves blending several
batches of the same herb that contains different amounts of the desired
marker. This blending process may produce an extract with the desired amount
of the standardized component, but the effect on the other nonstandardized
ingredients is not clear. Some manufacturers have tried to address the
standardization problem by adding purified active markers to an extraction
(e.g., by adding just the active marker, hyperforin, to a batch of St. Johns
wort). This approach will produce a uniform amount of the standardized
component in the final extract, but the final product will not contain the
original balance of organic ingredients found in the extract. Standardization
therefore may have unpredictable effects on the toxicity profile of an herbal
extract and becomes far more complex when multiple herbs are involved in a
single product 31 . Therefore, toxicological investigation of the polyherbal
formulations is to be made.
Government of India, recognising the increasing global demand of medicinal
plants and traditional medicine released Good Manufacturing Practises (GMPs)
for the pharmacies manufacturing Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani medicines to
improve the quality and standard of drug. The new rule came into force from
June 2000 as an amendment to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. 1940. These rules
give details regarding essential infrastructure, personnel and quality control
requirements of herbal drug manufacturing. Implementation of GMP requirements
is mandatory to the industry. Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy,
Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) has taken various steps to ensure
safety and quality standards for the Indian Systems of Medicine. The Ayurvedic
Pharmacopoeia of India gives monographs for 258 Ayurvedic drugs. The
standards, however, contained in this are not adequate and steps are on way to
make it globally acceptable with additional scientific data. The Indian Drug
Manufacturers Association (IDMA) has published an Indian Herbal
Pharmacopoeia incorporating various scientific information, it also requires further
improvement. What we need to do is to evaluate the selected 50 important
medicinal plants in the light of the foregoing details and prepare a well
108 AYURVEDA AND ITS SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS

documented and scientifically sound monograph giving full passport descriptions

of the plants with all relevant information on its medicinal properties. Minimum
requirements for medicinal plants and its products for global acceptable should
have:
Demonstrated safety;
Mapped efficacy (Pharmacologically credible formulation);
Consistency in batch to batch quality;
For polyherbals, contribution of each herb to be proved along with
synergims. It should be synergistic rather than additive;
Avoidance of endangered species; and
Easy availability and accessibility of the plant.

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