Pharmacognostical studies on alisma plants

Abstract

In order to clarify the originality of several Alisma Rhizomes, we investigated the differences of their morphological, anatomical and physiochemical characteristics. Morphological observation shows the variability of Alisma shape and quality. The diversities in morphological shapes and qualities of tuber were observed among different origins. Chinese product looked like corm shape, but korean's irregular shape. The microscopic observation of korean Alisma revealed the presence of irregular vascular bundle which was scattered transversely and longitudinally, which was different from that of the rhizome. This fact suggest that the portion of crude drug in Alisma should be the corm rather than the rhizome. In the physicochemical differences, chinese Alisma contains larger amount of mineral elements such as K, Na and Ca than korean Alisma. On the contrary, protein contents in lyophilized powder of aqueous extracts in korean Alisma rhizome was significantly higher than chinese Alisma rhizome. The leaves and stems contained larger amount of Ca and Na than tuber, and may be used as the osmotic diuretics for chinese traditional medicine.