Gmelina arborea Roxb. (Verbenaceae) is the authentic botanical entity correlated to Gambhari as per the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Root of Gambhari, is one of the ten ingredients of Dasamula, a group forms several important formulation in ayurveda. The increasing annual demand of >1000 MT of the raw drug and the decline in the availability of the authentic species have led to arbitrary substitution and adulteration in the raw drug market. This study provides comparative pharmacognostic and phytochemical characteristics of authentic Gmelina arborea and two of its substitutes namely Gmelina asiatica and Trewia nudiflora. Samples sold as Gambhari from six markets in India, were also studied. Of the two substitutes studied, T. nudiflora showed < 40% resemblance while G. asiatica, ~70% similarity to G. arborea. None of the market samples resembled G. arborea or the two substitutes either in anatomical structure or in phytochemical aspects. This study has developed quality standards for authentic species and highlighted the adulteration in the market with unknown species in the name of Gambhari.
Loading....