MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE PLANTS LEAF: DATURA - EXPERIMENT

Synonyms:

Stramonium herb, stramonium leaves, thornapple leaves, Devil’s apple, folia stramonii.

Biological Source:

Stramonium consists of dried leaves or flowering tops of Datura stramonium,

Datura metel

Family:

Solanaceae

Morphology:

LEAVES:

Appearance- Twisted, broken and crumpled

Leaf surface- Glabrous

Size-    8 to 25cm long

      7 to 15cm wide

Shape- Ovate(egg shape) to triangular ovate shape,

Apex-  Acute

Base-   Unequal or assymetric

Margin- Entire but in some cases situated with rounded or acute 2 to 4 lobes

Veins- 3 to 4 coarse veins on each side, 4 to 6 secondary veins on either side of the midrib.

Lamina- Glabrous

Color- Dark grayish green

Odour- Strong

Taste-  Bitter, salty

FLOWERS:

Datura stramonium- white

Datura metel- Purple

Odour- sweet

Calyx- tubular in shape with 4.5cm in length

Corolla- 8cm in length

Extra feature:

Leaf is covered with minute hairs, lower surface is slightly pale in odour, leaf has thin texture.       

Chemical constituents:

0.2 to 0.45 % of total tropane alkaloids. The major ingredient of the alkaloids are Hyoscine (Scopolamine) which is a main alkaloid. and L-Hyoscyamine and atropine are also present in minute quantities.

Uses:

·         Parasympatholytic with anticholinergic and central nervous system depressant effect.

·         Used in the treatment of asthma and cough.

·         Atropine in ophthalmic surgeory.

·         Antispasmodic

·         Hypnotic and Hallucinogenic activity

·         Mydriatic agent in ophthalmic surgery as it dilates the pupil.

·         In the treatment of diarrohea.