Abstract
Medicinal plants are considered a rich source of phytochemicals, which can
be used in drug development. For this purpose, the selection of correctly identified
herbs is of significance as each herb has a unique phytochemical distribution pattern.
High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) is one of the simplest yet
robust techniques for the identification of herbs, as it can provide unique
phytochemical fingerprints for each herb. However, process parameters of generating
HPTLC fingerprints require rigorous optimization for each plant. This chapter provides
HPTLC fingerprints for 108 medicinal plants together with their botanical name and
common Hindi names. Besides providing optimized HPTLC conditions for generating
these unique 108 fingerprints, this book also offers a list of solvent systems and
derivatizing reagents for screening of phytochemicals. With classical taxonomical
features and HPTLC fingerprinting methodology compiled, this chapter aims to serve
as a guide for the identity verification of medicinal plants.