Pharmacognostic studies on the flowers of Acacia nilotica Linn

Acacia nilotica (Linn) family Mimosaceae commonly known as Karuvalem is used in Traditional System of Medicine for healing various diseases. It is used in the treatment of throat troubles, stomatitis, chronic dysentery, diarrhoea and in conjunctivitis. In the present investigation an attempt has been made for the pharmacognostical standardization of Acacia nilotica flowers. The pharmacognostical evaluation comprises of morpho-anatomy, histochemistry and physical constants such as ash, loss on drying and extractive values of A.nilotica flowers. The flowers extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening. The data obtained in present study will serve as valuable tool for identification, authentication and detection of adulterants, standardization and quality control of the drug. The developed technique will also be useful for the standardization of formulation containing A.nilotica.