Pharmacognostic and Physico-Chemical Investigation of Hemionitis Arifolia (Burm.)Moore.

Hemionitis arifolia (Family-Adiantaceae)is an attractive and unusual dwarf fern.It is used folkloric to treat ear ache, migraine, haemorrhoids, arthritis, intestinal worms and wounds.It has been medically evaluated for its hypoglycaemic and anti-diabeticproperties in rats.The present investigation deals with macroscopic and microscopic evaluation of the leaf material and establishment of its quality parameters, including physicochemical and phytochemical evaluation.Macroscopy revealed lamina as dimorphous, simple; sterile fronds deeply cordate, margin entire, apex rounded; lower surface light green with scattered, appressed scales and hairs, densely along the midrib sparsely on surface. In the microscopic studies, the lamina is isobilateral and has no distinction of adaxial and abaxial sides.The vascular strand consists of a wide, bow shaped row of xylem elements; the two margins of the xylem strand are thin; the middle part being thick. Phloem occurs in thin band both on the lower and upper portions of the xylem arc. Chief characters of powder include epidermal cells, elliptical stomata, multicellular, uniseriate trichomes, xylem elements. Physicochemical parameters such as moisture content, chlorophyll estimation, fluorescence analysis, ash values and extractive values were done. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of many therapeutically important classes of phytoconstituents such as glycosides, phenolics, flavonoids, carbohydrate, terpenoids, sterols and saponins. Thus this study can serve as a valuable source of information and provide suitable standards for identification of this plant material in future investigations and applications.