COMPARATIVE PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION FOR INSULIN PLANT-COSTUS PICTUS D.DON ACCESSIONS

Abstract

Costus pictus D. Don commonly known as Insulin plant, as the Tribal people of Kerala and Tamilnadu consume 2-3 leaves of the plant twice a day, known to manage diabetes. The plant is known to possess many other pharmacological activities than antidiabetic property. It is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens of South India regions and is transported to the parts of India in various Nurseries. The objectives of this study were to compare the fifteen acces-sions collected from the different geographical regions of India, on the basis of a large num-ber of morphological, physicochemical and phytochemical characteristics. From the obtained results, it should be confirmed that the fifteen accessions of Costus pictus collected from the different populations of South, West, North and Middle India are almost same when com-pared for morphology as well as physicochemical and phytochemical properties. As the plant has various medicinal properties, the findings obtained from this study will be useful to ex-plore it as the important herbal source of antidiabetic as well as other possible pharmacologi-cal activities from any region of the India.