Pharmacognostical and preliminary phytochemical studies of Passiflora foetida.

The plant Passiflora foetida (grandilla) has been used mainly for asthma and various neurological disorders by the traditional medicinal practitioners of Chittor District. Since proper information regarding this plant is not available, our efforts were devoted to fix the pharmacognostical parameters and preliminary phytochemical studies of Passiflora foetid. An attempt was made to fix the macroscopical, microscopical parameters of the leaf, quantitative microscopy, physical constants, behaviour of the powder with chemical reagents and preliminary qualitative phytochemical studies of Passiflora foetida were investigated. The phytochemical tests revealed the presence of sterols, flavanoids and carbohydrates.