Authentication and Quality Assessment of Garcinia indica Choisy (Vrikshamla) Fruit Rind by Pharmacognostical, Physicochemical and HPTLC Fingerprint Analysis

Abstract

Background: Garcinia indica (Thouars) Choisy (Vrikshamla), a medicinal and culinary plant of the family Clusiaceae, is used in Ayurveda and is valued for its organic acids, anthocyanins, phenolics, flavonoids, and related phytoconstituents. Reliable botanical and analytical reference characteristics are important for authentication and quality assessment of fruit-rind material. Aim and Objectives: The present study aimed to generate integrated baseline pharmacognostical, physicochemical, phytochemical, and chromatographic reference parameters for the authentication, identification, and quality assessment of Garcinia indica fruit rind. Methodology: Pharmacognostical evaluation included macroscopic, organoleptic, transverse-section, and powder-microscopic examination. Foreign matter, loss on drying, total ash, water-soluble extractive, ethanol-soluble extractive, and pH were determined according to Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India procedures. Preliminary phytochemical screening was performed on aqueous, ethanolic, methanolic, and chloroform extracts using standard qualitative tests. HPTLC fingerprinting of the methanolic and chloroform extracts was performed on silica gel 60 F254 plates using n-pentane: ethyl acetate: formic acid (7:3:0.5, v/v/v) as the mobile phase, followed by densitometric evaluation at 254 and 366 nm. Results: The authenticated fruit-rind material showed characteristic macroscopic, microscopic, and powder-microscopic features. The measured physicochemical values were loss on drying 43.77% w/w, total ash 2.73% w/w, water-soluble extractive 52.20% w/w, ethanol-soluble extractive 12.30% w/w, and pH 2.0; foreign matter was not detected. Qualitative screening showed terpenoids in all four extracts, with other phytochemical classes varying according to solvent. The HPTLC profiles showed prominent chromatographic components in the Rf region of approximately 0.47-0.58 at 254 nm and 0.48-0.57 at 366 nm for the methanolic extract, while the chloroform extract showed prominent components around Rf 0.47-0.49. The band patterns remained broadly comparable across the tested application volumes. Conclusion: The study provides an integrated baseline pharmacognostical, physicochemical, qualitative phytochemical, and HPTLC fingerprint profile for the analysed Garcinia indica fruit-rind material under the reported experimental conditions. These data may support routine authentication and future quality-control studies, while wider pharmacopoeial specifications will require multi-batch evaluation and formal analytical validation.