PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PRO-FERTILITY EVALUATIONS OF DRACAENA ARBOREA (WILLD) LINN. (DRACAENACEAE

📄 Project Abstract

The plant Dracaena arborea (Willd) Linn is a member of the Dracaenaceae family. It grows abundantly in western Nigeria where its leaves are used as traditional herbal treatment for male infertility and as aphrodisiacs and also in the treatment of gonorrhoea, viral ailments like small pox, chicken pox, and measles, epilepsy and stomach troubles. This work was aimed at providing some pharmacognostic standards for the leaf of Dracaena arborea (Willd) and also to provide a scientific rationale for the traditional use of the plant in treatment of male infertility. Standard Pharmacognostic methods were used to conduct microscopic studies of the leaf and also biological activities of the leaves were evaluated. The physicochemical characters such as the ash values, extractive values, moisture content tannins content, swelling index, foaming index, microbial contaminants of the leaf of D. arborea were evaluated according to the methods in the WHO manual (1998). Acute toxicity studies was carrie...