Pharmacognosy of Prunus laurocerasus Linn-A Homoeopathic Drug

Abstract

Prunus laurocerasus L., a shrub belonging to family Rosaceae, is a well known drug in homoeopathy. Leaves are used as an antispasmodic, in heart diseases, for relief in nausea and as an ingredient in eye lotions. The leaves are coriaceous, dark green above and pale beneath, shortly petiolate; epidermal cells have distinctly thick, curved to wavy and sinuate sides; hypostomatic with anomocytic and anisocytic types of stomata. The mesophyll and midvein ground tissue possess characteristic sphaeraphidal idioblasts. Typical aerenchyma is present in ground tissue of leaf midvein and petiole. A layer of endodermis encloses the median arcuate vascular bundle of midvein and petiole.