Pharmacognosy-I: Plant Families Digitalis, Verbascum (Mullien).

1. FAMILY
SCROPHULARIACEAE

2. GROUP 9
1. Azba …. .07
2.Iqra . . . . . .15
3.Mehak… .23
4.Zainab. . . .39
5.Zairia… . 40
6.Tooba… .44
azbanazir@gmail.com
Presented to: Dr. Samia

3. INTRODUCTION TO SCROPHULARIACEAE FAMILY
Family Scrophulariaceae
Common Name Figwort, snapdragon etc.
Diversity Worldwide 220 genera;3000 species
Vegetative features
Leaves Alternative, opposite, exstipulate, rarely
whorled
Plant Mostly herbs 🌿or shirts, or perennial
Stem Herbaceous or woody(Paulownia) , aerial erect
Roots Branched tap root system
Habitat /Distribution or Ecology Cosmopolitan, majority found in temperate
regions, including topical mountains

4. Reproductive Part
Flower Bracteate or pedicellate, hermaphrodite,
pentamerous hypogynous, complete
Sexuality Bisexual. •¦•
Symmetry Zygomorphic ( have bilateral
symmetry, divided into to parts when
cut from Center)
Inflorescence Raceme or cyme, maybe spike, rarely
solitary axillary ( Striga densiflora)
Calyx (sepals) 5 or sometime 4 , United, 5 lobbed,
imbricate
Corolla (petals) 5 or 4 ( fused into a long or short tube)
sometimes 2 lipped( bilateral)
Androecium (male reproductive
part)
4 ,didynamous, rarely 2 or 5 ,epipetalous,
Gynoecium(female reproductive
part)
Bicarpellary (2 united carpels), superior
ovary (hypogynous), single style, axile
Some northwest Genera :
Castilleia; paintbrush
Collinstia; blue eyed mary
Digitalis; foxglove
Linaria; butter & eggs
Mimulus; monkey flower
Orthocarpus; owl-clover
Pedicularis; Louis wort
Penstemom; beardtongue
Verbascum; mullein
Veronica; speedwell

5. Other features
Pollination Entomophilous, rarely self
pollination in Veronica
Seed Endospermic, usually
numerous, minute
Fruit Berry or capsule
Floral formula

6. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
Medicinal importance
1. To treat heart diseases
2. Verbascum thapsus leaves used in asthma and pulmonary complaints
3. The leaves of Torenia asiatica is considered as cure of gonorrhoea
4. The juice of Lindenbergia indica is given in bronchitis
5. Anticharia is used in diabetes
In Ornaments
1. As Garden ornaments, we use Antirrhinum, snapdragon, Digitalis, Linearia, verbascum, Veronica,
cymbalaria, Torenia, Mimulus etc

7. DIGITALIS
 Synonyms :- Fox gloves, purple fox glove, digitora, digifortis, neodigitalis.
 Biological sources:- Digitalis consists of dried leaves of Digitalis purpurea Linn,
Belonging to family Scrophulariaceae
 Geographical sources:-It is grown in Southren and Central Europe, England,
Holland, India, Kashmir,Nepal,Germany ,United states and some Other countries
of Asia
 Digitalis is a biennial herb growing wild but good quality of the drug is obtained
especially from cultivated plants. The plants will flourish best in well drained
loose soil, preferably of siliceous origin, with some light shade.

9. CULTIVATION AND COLLECTION:-
 The plants growing in sunny situations possess the active qualities of the herb in a
much greater degree than those grown on a hot, sunny bank, protected by a wood,
give the best result
 İt grows best when allowed to seed itself, if it is desired to raise iy by sown seed
 For cultivation special strains of the seed are selected which would produce disease
resistant plants with maximum activity.Attention is specially paid to structure of soil
in seed beds
 Seed should mix with fine sand for even distribution and they should be thinly
covered with soil.
 They should be planted in damp weather and seed must be gathered as soon as
ripe. In dry season suffient water should be supplied
 İn 1st year a long stalk with rosette of leaves is produced

10.  Collection of the leaves is carried out
by hand from September to November
and thus organic
matter and discoloured leaves are avoided.
 After collection leaves should be dried
as soon as
possible at 60degree C.
Drying is carried till the moisture is not
more than 5%
 Leaves are packed under pressure in air
tight container
Morphology:-
Colour Dark greyish green
Odour Slight odour
Shape Broadly ovate to orate
lanceolate
Taste Bitter
Size 10 – 14cm in length and 4
– 15cm in width

12. CHEMICAL CONTITUENTS :-
• Digitalis contains 0.2 to 0.45 of important primary and secondary glycosides.Three İmportant
primary glycosides are
1. Purpurea glycoside A
2. Purpurea glycosid B
3. Purpurea Glycoside C
 They upon hydrolysis give rise to digitoxin, gitoxin and gitalin respectively. The secondary
glycosides on further hydrolysis yeilds non-carbohydrate moieties digitoxigenin, gitoxigenin and
getaloxigenin or gitaligenin respectively. Purpurea is hydrolyzed by digipuridase(enzyme) present in
leaves.
 Because of the greater stabılıty of secondary glycosides and lesser absorption of primary glycosides
and a high concentration of primary glycosides are not consider ideal and secondary glycosides
are used.Digitalis leaves also contain other glycosides (Virodoxin, digitalin, diginin etc),
saponins(gitin,digitonin etc), tannins, acids, enzymes and fatty acids.

14. CHEMICAL TESTS
 Digitalis glycosides contain 5-membered lactone ring which give
following test positive due to intact lactone:-
 Beljet test
 Legal test
 Keller-kilani test
Other tests are:-
 Tollen’s reagent
 Kedde test
 Raymond test
 Xanthedrol test etc

15. ADULTERATION:-
 The digitalis is frequently adulterated by following :-
 Verbascum thappsus (Mullelin leaves) Leaves are covered with wooly branched trichome
 Primula vulgaris (Primrose leaves) can be detected by presence of long covering trtrichomes
 Symphytum officinale(Comfrey leaves) these leaves contain multicellular trichomes
 İnula conyza (Ploughman’s Spikenard) distinguished by their rough ness, margins, horny
points and odour when rubbed.
Marketed product:-
It is one of the ingrideints of the Preparations known as the Lanoxin Tablets(Galaxo Smith Kalaine)

16. USES
• It is widely used as the herbal medicine with a recognized stimulatory effect upon the heart.
• It is used in allopathic medicine in the treatment of heart complaints and have tonic effect upon a
diseased heart, enabling the heart to beat more slowly, pwerfully and regulatory wıthout requiring
more oxygen.
• It stimulates the flow of urine which lowers the volume of the blood and Lessen load on heart
• İt has also been employed in the treatment of internal haemorrage, inflammatory diseases, in
delirium tremens, in epilepsy, in acute mania and various diseases.
• Digitalis has a cumulative effect in the body and hence it gets eliminated in the body rather
gradually so the dose has to be decided carefully and physician should monitor the dose.

17. ALLIED DRUGS OF DIGITALIS :-
 Digitalis lanata
 Digitalis lutea
 Digitalis thapsi

18. DIGITALIS LANATA
 The leaves of Digitalis lanata have 3-4 times greater activity than Digitalis purpurae.
 The leaves of Digitalis lanata used as commercial source of the most widely used cardio active glycoside
Digitoxin.
 Synonym:
. Wolly fox gloves leaves . Austrial Digitalis
 Binomial Name:
Digitalis lanata
 Sources:
These are the dried leaves Digitalis lanata belonging to the family Sacrophulariacece , & contain 1-
1.4% mixture of cardiac glycoside.
 Part used. Dried leaves

19. DIGITALIS LANATA

20.  Geological Sources:
Mostly in eastan Europe and in Holland and in USA.
 Morpholog:
Leaves are sessile and linear lenceolate.
 Size:
25 – 30 cm long &
4 – 5 cm wide
 Margins:
Entire
 Apex:
Acuminate

21.  Epidermis:
Irregular beaded walls.
 Stomata:
Anomocytic Renunculaceous
 Trichomes:
very rare
Note. Calcium oxalate crystals are absent. If covering trichomes are present, they are long &
glandular trichomes with unicellular stalk & bicellular head or multicellular stalk with unicellular head.

22. CHEMICAL CONSTITUENT..
 Lanatoside A , B , C & E. Lanatoside resembles to those of Digitalis purpurea but are acetylated at the
Digitoxose moiety adjacent to terminal glucose.
 The greater activity of Digitalis lanata is due to Digoxin .
 On hydrolysis,
Digoxin Digoxigenin
Contain a hydroxyl group(OH) in the 12th position.

23. CHEMICAL STRUCTURE OF DIGOXIN & DIGITOXIN.

25. ADULTERANTS:
 Mullein leaves
 Comfrey leaves
 Primrose leaves
Dose:
. The usual dose of Digitalis lanata is 2ng per ml.
. Digoxin is typically used as daily dose of 0.125 – 2.5mg.

26. USES:
 Leaves are exclusively used for the
preparation of lanatosides and Digoxin
 It is also used in the auricular fibrilsation
and congestive heart failure.
 It is preferred because of the
less cumulative effect.

27. DIGITALIS THAPSI
 Synonyms : Digitalis thapsi, which has been called mullein foxglove in the
US, is a flowering plant in the genus Digitalis that is endemic to the Iberian
Peninsula, where it occurs in eastern Portugal and central and western Spain.
 Biological sources : Digitalis, drug obtained from the dried leaves of the
common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and used in medicine to strengthen
contractions of the heart muscle.
 Geographical sources : It is found in European countries, England, France,
Germany, North America and India. In India, it is cultivated in Kashmir and
Nilgiri Hill.

29. SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Digitalis
Species: D. thapsi

30. DESCRIPTION
 Habitus: Digitalis thapsi is a perennial plant. Its yellow-green leaves are ovate to oblong in shape and decurrent,
with winged bases.[The flowers, stems and leaves are covered with a dense indumentum of tiny hairs, giving them a
soft appearance.These yellow-green hairs (trichomes) are exclusively glandular. The entire plant is very sticky
(glutinose). It is caespitose, meaning it grows with its large leaves tightly arranged into one, or a number, of rosettes
growing at or just above ground level. In older plants the base becomes woody and highly branched at ground level,
so that a single plant has multiple rosettes. The green, round to slightly angular stems grow to (30-)50 to 80(-100)cm
in height before they start to flower. The stems are similarly entirely covered in glandular hairs; these are present in
two forms: short and subsessile, or much longer, 0.4 to 0.6mm.
 The chromosome count is 2n=56.
 Leaves : The lower basal leaf blades are 7.5 to 13cm (exceptionally 19cm) in length, 2.5 to 5cm in width, more or
less flat but sometimes undulated along the margins, and oblong to elliptic in shape, with a sharp to somewhat
sharply tipped apex. The bases of the leaves taper gradually into the petioles. The texture is soft, not leathery. The
underside is rugose-reticular in texture, coloured greenish-yellow and very densely packed with glandular hairs. The
leaves in the middle of the rosette are clearly decurrent. The margins are denticulate or somewhat so,
rarely subentire.
 Flowers : The pink, rarely white,flowers are arranged in an inflorescence in the form of a raceme, 15 to 35cm in
length with 15 to 40 individual flowers. The inflorescence has glandular hairs along its shaft, is not stiff, and is
secundiflorous, meaning the flowers follow each other in succession. The flowers have a 1 to 2cm long pedicel which
is curved at the base, and shorter to equal in length to the subtending bracts. The flowers hang somewhat, and are
separated by internodes of 8-15mm. The bracts are 12 to 20mm in length and 2 to 3mm broad, glandular
and lanceolate in shape.

31. USES
Agriculture: It is known that livestock avoid eating this plant, but an exception are goats, which will eat the leaves and flowers in
times of shortage. Nonetheless, the plant is poisonous for them, causing stupor and paralysis -this was apparently once not an
uncommon occurrence in Spain, and has spawned a number of idioms.]
Cultivation : The species is used as a perennial, ornamental plant.] It is low-growing, so is used in the border. It grows well in
half-shaded to sun-exposed areas in temperate regions.[ It prefers organically rich, reasonably well-drained, acidic soils. In
Missouri it is said to require constantly moist soil.[ In British gardens moderate watering is required; the plant has an average
drought tolerance,] and is adaptable to dry shady areas.[] It is tolerant of deer. Many gardeners remove the spent flower spikes
soon after bloom, not allowing it to go to seed.[
Besides normal cultivation, D. thapsi has been propagated using explant culture, a technique employed by isolating and
harvesting meristem cells from pieces of tissue. Auxins NAA, 2,4-D and IAA alone or combined with BA produced a callus. NAA
caused root formation and BA shoot formation. NAA and BA combined induced organ generation more effectively. Plantlets
obtained this way had a survival rate of 70%.
A cultivar called 'Spanish Peaks' with raspberry-rose-coloured flowers and a compact habitus has been available in the US.[
Traditional : In Spain the traditional uses have practically been abandoned. Recorded traditional uses are often identical to that
those of D. purpurea; when questioned many informants in Salamanca believed that these were in fact the same species. It is
generally thought that the difference in flower colour is due to some characteristic of the soil. Local people are aware it is
poisonous. It was once locally used in herbalism as a cardiac tonic in many places. Other folk medicinal uses are local to specific
cities or villages: in the hills near Salamanca the leaves were steeped in water to use for a sore throat or a decoction used for
infected wounds, in a town in Galicia the flowers in water were used to combat inflammations, in the provinces of Zamora and
Salamanca boils are said to heal after applying a poultice of the burnt basal leaves.[

32. DIGITALIS LUTEA
 Digitalis lutea is a short lived Perennial and Biennial growing to 0.6m by 0.3m in. It is a flower in july.
The species is Hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) . It is pollinated by bees.
 Habitate : western and southern Europe and north west Africa. It can grow in semishaded or no
shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate droughts.
 Woodland,Hedgerows and uncultivated fields on siliceous soils.
 Range : Europe
 Synonyms : Straw foxglove , Yellow foxglove
 I

34.  Genus : Digitalis L – foxglove
 Species :. Digitalis L – straw foxglove
 Morphology :
 Leaves : oblong,lanceolate,sessile
 Size. : 3.3 ft (1m)
 Length : 21 cm
 Width. : 6 cm
 Uses :
 Cardiac
 Diuretic
 Stimulant
 Tonic

35.  Yellow foxglove is little used in herbal medicine but it is less toxic alternative to the purple or wolly
foxglove( D. purpurea and D. lanta).
 The yellow foxglove has simillar medical actions , but its alkaloids are more readily metabolized and
flushed out of the body [254].
 The leaves are Cardiac, Strongly Diuretic, Stimulant and Tonic [7,9,46,61].
 Chemical Constituents :
 It contains 0.2 to 0.45 % primary and secondary glycosides .
 Primary glycosides contain A and B glucogetaloxin
 Secondary glycosides contain Digitoxin, Gitoxin, Getaloxin.

38.  Storage : It should be store in well closed container in cool place away from light.
 Leaves don’t contain more than 5% of moisture because it cause destruction of glycosides and ultimately the loss of cardiac activity on
syotage.
 Cultivation : It is cultivated by seeds.
 Seeds are very small in size i.e 100 seeds weight 40 to 70 mg .
 Crop is manured and kept free from weeds.
 Adulteration :
 Mullein Leaves : obtained from Verbasum thapsus . It is densely covered with large branched wooly hairs.
 Comfrey Leaves : Symphytum officinale , Family : Boraginaceae. Detected by preseance of multicellular trichome.

39. VERBASCUM:

40. VERBACUM
Common name:Mullein
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Geographical source:They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species
diversity in the Mediterranean.
Biological source:The great or common mullein, which is frequently used in herbal
medicine.
Dosing:No recent clinical evidence supports specific dosage of mullein; however,
traditional uses of the herb suggest 3 to 4 g of flowers daily and 15 to 30 mL of fresh
leaf or 2 to 3 g of dry leaf.
Part used:dried leaves

41. DESCRIPTION:
 They are biennial or perennial plants, rarely annuals or subshrubs,
growing to 0.5 to 3 metres (1.6 to 9.8 ft) tall. The plants first form
a dense rosette of leaves at ground level, subsequently sending
up a tall flowering stem. Biennial plants form the rosette the first
year and the stem the following season. The leaves are spirally
arranged, often densely hairy, though glabrous (hairless) in some
species. The flowers have five symmetrical petals; petal colours in
different species include yellow (most common), orange, red-
brown, purple, blue, or white. The fruit is a capsule containing
numerous minute seeds.

43. CULTIVATION
 In gardening and landscaping, the mulleins are valued for their tall narrow
stature and for flowering over a long period of time, even in dry soils.
Considered a noxious weed by most plant societies in North America, they
are an invasive species that quickly adapts to choke out native flora, especially
after fires.
 Since the year 2000, a number of new hybrid cultivars have come out that
have increased flower size, shorter heights, and a tendency to be longer-lived
plants. A number have new colors for this genus.Many mulleins are raised
from seed, including both the short-lived perennial and biennial types.

44. CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION:
 It also contains primary and secondary glycosides. Primary
glycosides are Purpurea glycoside A (3 digitoxose,1glucose)
Purpurea glycoside B (3digitoxose, 1 glucose) Glucogitaloxin.(3
digitoxose, 1 glucose) Purpurea A and B are present in fresh
leaves.

45. USES
 The plant has a long history of use as a herbal remedy. Although
this plant is a recent arrival to North America, Native Americans
used the ground seeds of this plant as a paralytic fish poison due
to their high levels of rotenone.
 Verbascum flowers have been used in traditional Austrian
medicine internally (as tea) or externally (as ointment, tea, baths
or compresses) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract,
skin, veins, gastrointestinal tract, and the locomotor system.

46.  Demulcent, Emollient- the polysaccharide mucilage and gums
soothe irritated tissues
 Expectorant- saponins stimulate fluid production
 Anti-inflammatory- iridoid glycosides and flavonoids decrease
inflammation
 Mild Diuretic
 Anti-viral