Medicinal plants are in the richest bioresource of drugs of traditional system of medicine in many countries. Thephyto-physicochemical evaluation of the plant material is an important parameter in detecting adulteration or improperhandling of drugs. Pluchea lanceolata is a small shrub found in hotter parts of India including Punjab, Rajasthan, Upper WestBengal, Uttar Pradesh and neighboring Asian countries. It is locally known as Rasana. It is one of the important medicinalplant having many therapeutic uses. The present study deals with the physicochemical and preliminary phytochemicalinvestigations of Pluchea lanceolata. The study on plant was conducted following the reported methods in literature and alsofrom World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.The physicochemical analysis showed convincing results. Thephytochemical screening of the whole plant revealed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids, glycosides,tannins, carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, oils and fats. Thin layer chromatography exhibited a number of compounds indifferent extracts and the fluorescence study showed promising results.The present study revealed that Pluchea lanceolata isan important source of many therapeutically and pharmacologically active compounds. The work further providesinformation for the correct identification and standardization of the plant.
