Comparison of Diuretic Activity of Aerva lanata and Aerva tomentosa

Herbal drugs are already in vouge as therapeutic agents for thousands of years but in present times there is a need to re-valuate their clinical efficacy. Some times different herbs are known by same name; also a large number of plants are collected from wild sources like forests and waste places through unskilled labour for which it is not always possible to differentiate the plant species taxonomically. Thus, the identity and quality of the drug is compromised. Aerva lanta (A.l.) is a glaring example, which is adulterated by Aerva tomentosa(A.t.) having same family amaranthaceae. Aerva lanata commonly known as Bui-Kallan (Pb.) have nearly same synonym, as that of Aerva tomentosa, Boikallan (Pb.).Both are used in the traditional system of medicine as diuretic. Till yet no comparison has been made for their diuretic activity. Hence, we compared the diuretic effect of ethanolic extract of aerial parts of Aerva lanata and Aerva tomentosa.