Abstract

SCILLA INDICA BAKER - A SUBSTITUTE FOR INDIAN SQUILL

Dr. Urmila Kumavat*, Dr. Seema Agashe, Dr. Bindu Gopalkrishnan and Late Dr. Shraddha Shimpi

Abstract

Indian squill i.e. Urginea indica Kunth is one of the ancient medicinal plants and its bulb has several therapeutic uses. It is used as diuretic, deostruent, emetic, emmenogogue, expectorant, cathartic, anticancer agent etc. According to previous literature the marketed sample of Urginea indica is often mixed with the bulbs of Scilla indica Baker. As pharmacognosy is considered as reliable tool to confirm the controversial status of any crude drug, an extensive pharmacognostic study of S. indica was done for the first time. It involved various pharmacognostic parameters such as macroscopy, microscopy, powder study, physicochemical analysis and preliminary phytochemical screening. In comparative pharmacognostic studies of the said plants, many external and internal features were found to be similar. The preliminary phytochemical analyses and alcohol extractive values of both plants were almost matching. The overall study indicated that S. indica can be used as substitute of U. indica. However the detailed phytochemical and pharmacological studies of S. indica are necessary to be performed.

Keywords: Indian squill, Urginea indica, Scilla indica, Pharmacognosy.