gambhari :

Morphology:

Root –

· Occurs in pieces with secondary and tertiary branches,

· root pieces nearly cylindrical with uneven surface, greyish brown, fracture somewhat tough in bark, brittle and predominant in woody portion.

Root bark-

• mature root bark when fresh, yellowish in colour,

• dry pieces curved and channelled,

• thinner ones forming single quills,

• external surface rugged due to presence of vertical cracks, ridges, fissures and numerous lenticels,

• fracture short and granular

Flowers- appearing with or sometimes before the young leaves, usually in small cymes of about three flowers arranged along the branches of a densely fulvous- hairy panicle reaching 30cm. long; buds clavate, angular; bracts 8mm. long, linear- lanceolate Calyx 5mm. long, broadly campanulate, densely fulvous- hairy; teeth 5, small, triangular, acute. Corolla brownish yellow, densely hairy outside reaching 3.8cm long, 5- lobed, 2- lipped; upper lip rather more than 1cm long, deeply divided into 2 oblong, obtuse lobes; lower lip nearly 2.5cm long, 3- lobed, the middle lobe projecting forward, ovate, sub obtuse, with irregularly crenulate margin, much longer and broader than the obovate rounded lateral lobes.

Fruits- Drupe, 2- 2.5cm long, ovoid or pyriform, smooth, orange yellow when ripe

Histology:

Root-

transverse section of root shows

• 6-8 layers of cork cells,

• secondary cortex, including primary and secondary phloem about two third consisting of wood, cork brownish,

• cells arranged in tangential direction and broken at places towards upper layers,

• cortex characterised by the presence of thin-walled parenchymatous cells with starch grains ,

• resin ducts present in abundance throughout cortex, scattered stone cells fibre like or elongated common,

• fibres present, occurring mostly in singles,

• cells of cortex also contain rosette crystals of calcium oxalate and oil globules,

• primary phloem characterised by the presence of sieve tubes with companion cells, phloem parenchyma, soft bast fibres and ray cells,

• phloem fibres occur singly and scattered cortical cells 40-70 µ by 25-35 µ and bast fibres, 300-1000 µ by 10-15 µ

• development of cork takes place in second or third layer of primary cortex,

• wood consists of simple pitted wood parenchyma and medullary rays, wood cells mainly composed of vessels and tracheids and

• inner wood consists of a major portion of fibres together with a few vessels, vessels numerous and form almost a ring near the periphery of xylem cylinder and somewhat spares, being scattered in groups or singly nearer the central region, lumen of vessels somewhat large, dimensions of vessels 130-250 µ by 50-100 µ and

• those of the tracheids 175-300 µ by 30-50 µ wood fibres abundant and with simple pits , cambium distinct,

• medullary rays generally 1-2 celled thick with abundant starch grains cells oblong to rectangular.