Pharmacognostic characterization and comparison of fruits of Tribulus terrestris L. and Pedalium murex L.

Abstract

Tribulus terrestris and Pedalium murex are two well-known medicinal plants. Fruits of these plants are used for treating various urinary disorders like calculus formation. In Ayurveda they are known as Gokshura and Brihat gokshura respectively. In the present paper the fruits of T. terrestris and P.murex were compared morphologicaly, anatomically and phytochemically to evolve anatomical and chemical profiles for quality standardization. Reported pharmacological activities of the two fruits were also compared for justifying the use of P. murex fruits as a substitute. Main differences were observed in the habit, shape and structure of the fruits. In T. terrestris, the fruit is covered with hairs and it is five angled with five segments and a pair of spines from each segment, whereas it is four angled with four spines in P. murex. In the TLC profile the two samples showed significant variations and some resemblance. In P. murex, several additional bands were noticed in the profile and some bands were seen missing or seen very faint. The presence of common bands in two plants revealed that the methanolic extract of fruits of P. murex and T. terrestris have some identical chemical constituents and it was also noticed that the intensity of these similar bands were more in T. terrestriswhen compared to P. murex. Similar pharmacological activities especially the antilithiatic activity throws light towards the possibility of substitution.