Pharmacognostical and Physicochemical Evaluation of Leaves of Machilus macrantha Nees (Lauraceae).

Machilus macrantha (Lauraceae), is locally known as ‘Gulmau’ to have many uses in ethnomedicine. Establishment of pharmacognostic profile of the leaves will assist in standardization and identification of samples. The present study deals with pharmacognostic examination of morphological and microscopical characters of leaves of Machilus macrantha Nees. including leaf constant, ash values, extractive values, fluorescence analysis and phytochemical screening of the extracts revealed that the plant contains steroids, alkaloids, carbohydrates and phenolic compounds.