Pharmacognostic and Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Cichorium intybus Linn Seed

Cichorium intybus a member of Asteraceae family, is a perennial herb cultivated throughout India. It is commonly known as Chicory. It has been reported to have antifungal, antitibacterial, hypoglycemic and hepatoprotective activity in various traditional systems of medicine. It is also found to have antineoplstic, antioxidant, analgesic and sedative activity. As the Pharmacognostic and Phytochemical data on the seeds of Cichorium intybus have not been reported previously, various pharmacognostic parameters like, examination of macroscopical, microscopical characters, ash values, extractive values, foreign organic matter and LOD were studied with the aim of establishing monograph for this species. Phytochemical screening included qualitative chemical examination and Thin layer chromatography of the detected phytoconstituents. Microscopical characters showed the presence of parenchyma, single layered tangentially elongated epidermis, well defined endosperm and papus. Powder characteristic also showed the presence of epidermal cells, papus and endosperm. The total ash, water soluble ash and acid insoluble ash were found to be 9.2%w/w, 1.1%w/w, 1.4%w/w respectively. The moisture content was found to be 7 w/w. Water, Alcohol and Chloroform soluble extractive values were found to be 12.2%w/w,13.4%w/w, 1.2%w/w respectively. Preliminary phytochemical investigation of aqueous and methanolic extract of seeds of cichorium intybus revealed the presence of Carbohydrates, Alkaloids, Tannins and Flovonoids which were further confirmed by thin layer chromatography with the Rf values as 0.94,0.75 and 0.78 for carbohydrates, alkaloids, flavonoids and 0.81 and 0.90 for tannins and flavonoids respectively.