Pyllanthus Amarus Case Study

2.9.1 Botanical description:

Phyllanthus amarus is a plant of the family Euphorbiaceae and has about approximately 800 species which are found in tropical and subtropical countries of the world (Mazumder et al., 2006; Tahseen et al., 2013). It is a branching annual glabrous herb which is 30-60 cm high and has slender, leaf-bearing branchlets, distichous leaves which are subsessile elliptic-oblong, obtuse, rounded base. The name ‘Phyllanthus’ means “leaf and flower” and named so because of its appearance where flower, fruit and leaf appears fused (Kumar et al., 2011). Flowers are yellowish, whitish or greenish, auxiliary, male flowers in groups of 1-3 whereas females are solitary. Fruits are depressed-globose like smooth capsules present underneath the branches and seeds are trigonous, pale brown with longitudinal parallel ribs on the back (Itoro et al., 2013).

2.9.2 Geographical distribution; It is widely spread throughout the tropics and subtropics in sandy region as a weed in cultivated and wastelands (Unander et al., 1995), indigenous to the rainforests of the Amazon and other tropical areas including Bahamas, southern India and China (Thagarajan et al., 1988). The plant has been found in Philippine, Cuba, Nigeria and

Scopolamine and diazepam were used as standard drugs to produce amnesia and elevated plus maze and passive avoidance paradigm for evaluation of cognitive functions. Since the reduction in cholinesterase in linked with increase acetylcholine concentration in brain which further associated with memory improvement thus providing a rationale to use in the management of patients with cognitive disorders (Joshi and Parle,