Pharmacognosy of aconite sold under the name <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vatsanabha</i> in Indian market

Abstract

Aconite is one of the lethal poisons used in therapeutics of Ayurveda. It is sold under the name of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vatsanabha</i> in Indian market. The aconite is generally found as mixture of different species of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Aconitum</i>, due to the close morphological similarity of the different species of aconites. The aims of the study were to identify different species of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Aconitum</i> present in the market samples of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vatsanabha</i> and to find out the authentic species of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vatsanabha</i>, i.e. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Aconitum</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">chasmanthum</i> Stapf. ex Holmes in the market sample. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vatsanabha</i> was sold from Indian markets and was identified by means of macroscopic and microscopic studies and by TLC profile. It was found that ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vatsanabha</i>’ of Indian market is mixture of 8 species of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Aconitum</i>, 6 of these were identified as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">A. spicatum </i>Stapf.,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> A. falconeri </i>Stapf., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">A. chasmanthum </i>Stapf. ex Holmes<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">, A. laciniatum </i>Stapf.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">, A. balfourii</i> Holmes ex Stapf. and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">A. deinorrhizum </i>Holmes ex Stapf. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">A. chasmanthum </i>Stapf. ex Holmes species is rarely available in market samples.