1. Fruits Capsicum fruits – Senna pods
Pharmacogonosy II
Fruits
Capsicum fruits – Senna pods

2. Capsicum Fruit
Origin :The dried ripe fruits of
Capsicum minimum F.Solanaceae
Condition: Dried -ripe
Shape: Ovoid to conical ovoid,
attached to 5- toothed calyx and a slender pedicle.
Color: Orange red to red
Kind: True, Simple, Succulent, Berry (pericarp is fleshy and endocarp is not hard).

3. Pericarp Insertion: Superior Dehiscence: Indehiscent
Odour: Sternutatory
Taste: Fiery pungent taste
Pericarp
Colour: Orange red
Surface: Glabrous , shining
Texture and Thickness: thin & leathery.
Sutures: Nil
Epi, meso and Endocarp: Indistinguishable.
Placentation: Axile

4. Pitted reticulated surface
Seed
No: in each fruit.
Shape : reniform ( kidney-shapped)
Kind: Albuminous, derived from Campylotropous ovule
Embryo: Coiled, Dicot and Long radicle.
Pitted reticulated surface

5. T.S in Pericarp Epicarp IML of mesocarp Islet of sclereid in endocarp
Idioblast of microsphenoidal crystals of ca.ox

6. Islets of sclerides of endocarp
Oil
globules
IMLM = Giant cell
Epicarp: thick cutinized, straight walled, rectangular cells, thickened on the 2 radial and outer tangential walls
Islets of sclerides of endocarp

7. T.S in capsicum seed
Outer epidermis
Inner
epidermis
endosperm

8. Capsicum fruit powder Physical characters Key elements:
Color: orange red color
Odour : sternutatory .
Taste: fiery pungent .
Pungency is destroyed by KMnO4 (not by alkalis)
Key elements:
1- sclereids of endocarp.
2- Seed coat.

9. islets of sclerieds of endocarp
Low power
High power
Polygonal elongated sclerieds having thick, sinous, pitted and lignified walls

10. Seed coat
Low power
High power
Large polygonal cells having thick, lignified sinuous walls and branched lumen.

11. Senna pods= legumes
Origin: the dried ripe fruits of Cassia acutifolia known as Alexandrian senna and Cassia angustifolia known as Indian senna Family: Leguminosae
Condition: dried, ripe
Shape :thin, papery, laterally compressed, subreniform.
Color : Pale green to greenish- brown with a brown center area (position of seeds)
Odour: odourless.
Taste: bitter mucilagenous.

12. Ventral Dorsal side side Kind : true, simple, dry, dehiscent, legume.
Insertion : superior
Dehiscence : along both dorsal and ventral sutures.
Placentation : Marginal
Ventral
side
Dorsal
side

13. Pericarp Seed Colour: pale green to greenish brown
Thickness and texture: thin and papery
Surface : rough
Sutures: dorsal and ventral
Epi, meso & endocarp: indistinguished
macroscopically
Seed
Number: Alex(5-7) , Indian(6-8)
Adherence: adhere to ventral suture by
short funicle.
Shape: obovate, wedge-shaped, hard
Kind: albuminous, atropus.
Embryo: large, straight, dicot.

14. Senna Powder Palisade-like epidermal cells of the seed.
H.P.
L.P.
Crossed fibres of endocarp
Bearer cells
horse-Shoe shaped hypodermis
In seed

15. Fragment of crossed fibres (atypical crystal sheath)
Fragments of epicarp showing Paracytic stomata and warty hairs.
Fragment of crossed fibres
(atypical crystal sheath)

16. Special chemical test:
Modified Borntrager’s test
Boil with alc. KOH
Filter
Acidify with dil. HCl
Few drops H2O2
Pd. Seena
Filterate
Extract with organic solvent
Shake with NH3
Rose red color in aqueous layer