NIS - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

WHO monographs on medicinal plants commonly used in the Newly Independent States (NIS)
obovate, 4–15 cm long by 2–6.5 cm wide; apex acuminate; base cuneate;
margin serrulate or finely bidentate. In general, 1 leaf in the first year with
1 leaflet added annually until the sixth year. Inflorescence a small terminal
umbel, hemispherical in early summer. Flowers polygamous, pink. Calyx
vaguely 5-toothed. Petals 5, stamens 5. Fruit a small berry, nearly drupaceous,
and red when ripe in autumn (8).
Plant material of interest: dried root
General appearance
The main root is fusiform or cylindrical, 2.5–20 cm long by 0.5–3.0 cm in
diameter; externally greyish yellow; upper part or entire root exhibiting
sparse, shallow, interrupted, and coarse transverse striations and distinct
longitudinal wrinkles; lower part bearing 2–5 branching lateral roots and
numerous slender rootlets with inconspicuous minute tubercles. Rhizomes
1–4 cm long by 0.3–1.5 cm in diameter, mostly constricted and
curved, bearing adventitious roots and sparse depressed circular stem
scars. Texture relatively hard, fracture yellowish white, cambium ring
brownish yellow, starchy (1–5).
Organoleptic properties
Colour, greyish white to amber-yellow; odour, characteristic; taste, slightly
sweet at first, followed by a slight bitterness (1, 2).
Microscopic characteristics
The transverse section shows cork consisting of several rows of cells;
cortex narrow; phloem showing clefts in the outer part, and parenchymatous
cells densely arranged and scattered with resin canals containing
yellow secretions in the inner part; cambium in a ring; xylem rays broad,
vessels singly scattered or grouped in an interrupted radial arrangement,
and occasionally accompanied by non-lignified fibres; parenchyma cells
containing abundant starch grains and a few clusters of calcium oxalate
(1, 3–5).
Powdered plant material
Yellowish white; fragments of resin canals containing yellow secretions;
clusters of calcium oxalate (20–68 µm in diameter), few, with acute angles;
cork cells subsquare or polygonal, with thin and sinuous walls; reticulate
and scalariform vessels 10–56 µm in diameter; starch granules fairly abundant,
simple, subspheroidal, semicircular, or irregular polygonal (4–30 µm
in diameter), singly or in groups of two to four (1–5).
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