Exposition of Role of Diurnal and Seasonal Variation on Latex of Calotropis procera Ait. and Calotropis gigantea L.R.BR.

Background: Time (Kala) of collection is an important criterion responsible for the quality of crude drugs of herbal origin. According to their parts used, the guidelines for rutuwise (seasonal) collection of crude plant drugs has been well documented in various treatise of Ayurveda. Among various parts used of medicinal plants, Kshira (latex) of Arka and Shwetarka finds a wide usage in various pharmaceutical processes and formulations in classical literature. The latex has been quoted to be procured in Sharada rutu (September- October) but the scientific reason behind this still remains unexplored.

Materials and Methods: The fresh crude latex of both C. gigantean (CG) and C. procera (CP) were collected in clean glass vials regularly in all the six rutu i.e Vasanta (March-April), Grishma (May-June), Varsha (July- August), Sharada (September- October), Hemanta (November- December) and Shishira (January- February). The collection was done for 4 days in each rutu and 3 times in a day i.e. before sunrise (BS), 3 hrs. after sunrise (3AS) and 6 hrs. after sunrise (6AS) from three different tender and fresh parts of the plant i.e. twig, petiole and peduncle. The observations regarding volume, girth of plant parts, pH, viscosity, specific gravity along with preliminary phytochemical analysis of latex was carried out in samples of crude latex collected in six seasons.

Results: Grishma rutu was very well differentiated from other rutus in terms of volume and girth. Also, a peculiar presence of alkaloids and proteins was observed in Sharada rutu in both the species supports the classical collection protocol in Agneya period.