Abstract

Cussonia bateri seeman (Araliaceae) commonly known as octupus cabbage tree is used traditionally in the treatment of infection, inflammation, malaria, epilepsy, wound healing and mental disorder. Despite having these important medicinal values, little information is available on the standardization parameters of the plant. For this reason, this present work was carried out to provide a comprehensive report on the quality control and standardization parameters for quality and purity. The preparation of the fresh and powdered samples of leaf was carried out according to WHO guideline on method of assessing crude drug. The macroscopic and organoleptic evaluation that was carried out revealed that the leaf is greenish yellow in colour, odourless, bitter in taste, obvate in shape, rugose in texture, serrulate leaf margin and acute leaf apex. The microscopy shows the presence of epidermis, xylem, phloem subsidiary cells and stomata. Chemo-microscopy revealed the presence of cellulose and lignified cell wall, suberin, mucilage, starch, inulin and druse shaped calcium oxalate. The physicochemical parameters were: moisture content (11.5±0.10), total ash value (11.76±0.15), acid insoluble ash (2.67±0.17), water soluble ash (7.00±0.00), Alcohol extractive value (28.00±3.30), and water extractive value (37.2±3.34). This is the first study providing complete pharmacognostic profile of the leaf of C. bateri and it will be useful for correct identification and authentication of the plant for future studies.