Pharmacognostic studies of an ethnomedicinal plant: Cissus latifolia Lam

Abstract

Cissus latifolia Lam. commonly called in Malayalam as Chunnambuvalli is a large climbing shrub belonging to the family Vitaceae. Horthus malabaricus, the book on medicinal plants of Western Ghats describes its use for the treatment of pleuritis, fever, cough, ulcers etc. by the traditional healers of Kerala. Owing to its ethnomedicinal importance, proper identification and evaluation is vital for drug development and to prevent adulteration. The present paper discusses the macroscopic, microscopic and powder microscopic study of Cissus latifolia. Since minimal data on the plant is available, the information gathered here will be highly valuable. This study also provides the information for proper identification and standardization of the drug