Tinospora cordifolia (Giloy) a medicinal plant

Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers.) is a dioecious creeper, commonly known as “Giloe”, with significant medicinal importance in the traditional systems of medicine. The plant is dioecious, however, this aspect is not given due attention when harvesting the plant material for medicinal purposes. Minimal reports are available on male and female varieties of Guduchi and no published information on the comparative physicochemical analysis of these varieties is available so far. Considering this, the present research is intended to comparatively analyse the physicochemical profiles of male and female varieties of Guduchi. Both male and female varieties were obtained, authenticated and subjected to morphological/organoleptic sampling, specific physico-chemical criteria, qualitative checking for different functional groups, and quantitative estimate of total alkaloids, total starch and mucilage contents. The present research distinguished both male and female varieties in morphological and organoleptic characters. The values of water and alcohol soluble extractives where found comparatively higher in male variety, whereas the total alkaloid, total starch and total mucilage contents were higher in female variety. All functional groups were found to be same in both varieties; however, more detailed works on quantification of chemical constituents and secondary metabolites are needed.