Collection of medicinal plants

The plant parts which are used for healing the diseases are
collected from the cultivated plants in the farms either by means
of skilled workers as in case of ( Belladonna , Digitalis and
Cinchona plants ) , while other drugs such as ( Black pepper ,
Henna ) are collect by means of un skilled workers . The
collection process is affected by some important factors such as :
Season of collection
Plant age
Daily weather
The stage of the physical maturity of the plant part used

Season /Time of the year: The active constituents of medicinal
plants vary quantitatively and qualitatively througout the year.
Examples:
Rhubarb contains no anthraquinones in winter but contains
anthranoles, which on arrival of warm weather converted by oxidation
to anthraquinones.
Colchicum corms is almost free of bitterness and almost devoid of
colchicine in autumn and is full of starch, so it is collected at the end
of the autumn and used by the farmers of Austria as food instead of
potatoes, but in spring and early summer it is bitter due to high
colchicine content and hence should be collected for medicinal use.
The leaves of (Peppermint , Eucalyptus & spearmint ) plants contain a
high concentration of ( Volatile oils ) during spring season and during
summer & winter the concentration of these oils become lower .

2- Time of the day: Affects both the therapeutic value and
activity of medicinal drugs. It is an important factor in
determining the concentration of active constituents in
medicinal drugs.
Examples:
Digitalis leaves collected in the afternoon contain more
glycosides than those collected in the morning. i.e the active
glycosides undergo hydrolysis to physiologically less active
aglycones during the night and recombine with sugars during
day-time.
Solanaceous leaves have higher alkaloid content when collected
in the morning than those collected in the afternoon.
The flowers of ( Roses , Marigold) plants are collected before
the sun rise in order to prevent the loss of Volatile oils .
 3- Stage of maturity and age of the plant: The quality and quantity of the active
constituents depend on the stage of maturity and age of the medicinal plants
collected.
Examples:
Santonica flowers are most rich in santonin, when they are unexpanded and
when they start to open, the santonin content starts to decrease due to light
oxidation to yield inactive photo-santonin.
Solanaceous leaves contain higher alkaloid content when the plant is in the
flowering stage.
Cinchona trees posses high concentration of the alkaloid ( Cinchonin ) in their
barks when they are within ( 6-9 ) years old .
The bark of the Cinnamon plants can be collect when the plants are 8years old
Certain Pharmacopeias specify the time and stage of collection of certain
important drugs as they should be collected when they are containing the
highest amount of active principles and they will have better appearance when
dried.
Example :
E.P. 1984 specified that Lobelia herb must be collected towards the end of the
flowering stage.

General rules for collecting crude drugs are as follows:
Roots and rhizomes are collected at the end of the vegetation
period, i.e. usually in the autumn. In most cases they must be
washed free of adhering soil and sand.
Bark is collected in the spring.
Leaves and herbs are collected at the flowering stage.
Flowers are usually gathered when fully developed.
Fruits and seeds are collected when fully ripe.
 Methods of collection of crude drugs

Methods of collection varies according to the medicinal
plant.
leaves:
In case of Senna the whole plant is cut and the leaves are
picked off after drying in the sun.
Digitalis leaves: are gathered directly from the plants.
Coca leaves are gathered directly from the plants when
nearly ready to fall from the stem.
Peppermint and spearmint are harvested by mowers
Flowers: Collection of flowers must be carried out in
fine dry weather in order to fix the colour of the product.
Generally flowers are gathered just at the time of
pollination and before the formation of fruits.
Cloves and Santonica are collected in bud stage. Cloves
are collected by beating the plant with bamboos.
Chamomile flower are collected just after full expansion.

Barks : It is usually done in the spring or in early summer
when the cambium is active and the bark can be easily
stripped off from the trunk and branches. Longitudinal
incisions are made at intervals, round incisions are made
of the stem and the bark is stripped off in long pieces.
Barks are collected by three techniques:
Felling: bark is collected after cutting the tree at the base.
Uprooting: bark is collected after uprooting the plant
from the soil.
Coppicing: bark is collected after cutting the plant 1mtr
above the ground level.

Fruits:
Seeds and small fruits are harvested using seed strippers.
Fennel, caraway, coriander- plants are uprooted, dried, thrashed
and are separated by winnowing.
Roots, Rhizome, Bulbs and Corms are harvested by mechanical
devices such as diggers and lifters.
Aerial parts are harvested by binders.
Unorganised drugs including, Resins, Gums, Latex,.etc are
usually collected in dry weather.
Agar-long handled forks
Incision - Opium and Gum Tragacanth.
Expression -Olive oil
 Drying of crude drugs

Living plant material has a high water content: leaves may contain 60-90% water,
roots and rhizomes 70-85%, and wood 40-50%. The lowest percentage, often no
more than 5-10%, is found in seeds. Drying is the process by which this
moisture from plant material can be removed and this also helps in :
Preventing the Microbial growth
Facilitating the grinding process
Inhibition of some enzymes & reactions which can convert some of the plant
constituents from active to in active state .
Conversion some constituents from inactive to active state
Examples : -
In vanilla pods : - the pods of Vanilla plants must be drying at moderate
temperature to convert the (Glucovanilla) in to ( Vanillin ) flavoring agent .
In Digitalis leaves : - we must dry at moderate temperature to convert the primary
glycosides in active compounds ( Purpurea glycosides A & B ) in to active
compounds like , ( Digitoxin & Gitoxin ) .

Open air drying : - this is done either by :
Under the Sun light : used for crude drugs which are not affected by
the light and high temperatures ex : Black pepper
Under Shade : - for crude drugs which are affected by light & high
temperature ex : fruits of Opium in ( Papaver somniferum ).

Artificial Drying :
(i) Tray dryers: The drugs which do not contain volatile oils and are quite
stable to heat are dried in tray dryers. The plant material is spread out on
shallow trays, which are placed on mobile racks and passed into a tunnel
where they meet a stream of warm air.
The air temperature is kept at 20-40C for thin materials such as
leaves, but is often raised to 60-70 C for plant parts that are harder to dry,
e.g. roots and barks.

ii) Vacuum dryers: The drugs which are sensitive to higher
temperatures are dried by this process
Eg: Tannic acid, digitalis leaves.
iii) Spray dryers: The drugs which are highly sensitive to
atmospheric conditions and also to temperature of vacuum drying
are dried by spray drying method. This technique is followed for
quick drying of economically important plant and animal
constituents rather than the crude drugs
Eg: papaya latex, pectin, tannins

Freeze-dryingFreeze-drying (lyophilization) is a very mild
method.
Frozen material is placed in an evacuated apparatus which has a
cold surface maintained at -60 to -80 C. Water vapor from the
frozen material then passes rapidly to the cold surface. The method
requires a relatively complicated apparatus and is much more
expensive than hot-air drying. For this reason, it is not used as a
routine method, but it is very important for drying heat-sensitive
substances, e.g. antibiotics and proteins.

Stabilization: On long storage, enzymatic reactions will
slowly destroy the constituents, because the last traces of
water can never be removed. In order to avoid this
degradation, the enzymes should be destroyed before drying,
a process usually called stabilization. The most common
method being brief exposure (a few minutes only) of the plant
material to ethanol vapor under pressure (0.5 atm).
Stabilization may be of value for the isolation of compounds
that are very susceptible to enzymatic degradation

Fermentation:
Enzymatic transformation of the original plant
constituents is sometimes desirable. The fresh material is then
placed in thick layers, sometimes covered and often exposed to
raised temperatures (30-40 C) and humidity, so as to accelerate
the Enzymatic processes. (This treatment is usually called
fermentation).The fermented product must, of course, be dried
afterwards to prevent attack by microorganisms, e.g. moulds.

Fermentation is mostly used to remove bitter or

unpleasant-tasting substances or to promote the formation of
aromatic compounds with a pleasant smell or taste. It is mainly
applied to drugs used as spices or stimulants, e.g. vanilla, tea and
cocao.
 Storage of crude drugs

Storage represents the last stage of preparing crude drugs.
Drugs usually deteriorate on long time of storage, except in few
cases:
Cascara and Fragula should not be used except after certain period
of storage.
Certain drugs such as Nux vomica are hardly affected by storage.
Generally, changes that take place during storage of crude
drugs are objectionable
e.g: drugs containing volatile oils gradually lose their aroma.
Improper methods of storing and inadequate protection during
storage can cause a pronounced deterioration.
 There are two principal reasons for deterioration:
Physiochemical: Moisture, Heat, Air and light.
Biological: Fungi ,Bacteria, Insects and Rodents.

Physicochemical factors
1..Moisture:
Moisture sometimes affects drugs adversely through activating the
enzymes (as in cardiac glycosides).
2 . Heat:
Rise of temperature up to 45 activates the enzymes causing
decomposition of active constituents. Volatile oil containing drugs are also
affected by higher temperatures, their content decreases.
3. Air:
Oxygen of air oxidizes certain constituents of crude drugs, e.g. linseed
and lemon oil, it causes rancidity of fixed oils and resinification of volatile oils.
4.Light:
It affects drugs, especially those having marked colours. e.g. yellow
colour of Rhubarb changes to reddish tint, white coloured corollas turn brown.

Biological factors
1. Bacteria:
Cotton fibres are rendered brittle by bacterial attack which
makes the cotton wool objectionable and dusty.
2. Moulds
The mycelium or delicate hyphae produces an unpleasant
mass of clinging particles in powdered drugs.
3. Insects:
They seem to attack all drugs but have preferences to
certain drugs as ginger, belladonna, kola, liquorice,.....Insects
which infest vegetable drugs include beetles, mites and moths.
They render drugs porous and powdery

Methods for controlling insects
1.Heat treatment:
it is the simplest method and is done by exposing the
drug to a temperature of 60-65. It is effective especially for
insect eggs which are not affected by insecticides.
2 Fumigation:
this is done by volatile insecticidal agents in closed areas
e.g. CCl4, CS2
Most fumigants do not kill eggs of insects. It is advisable
to repeat fumigation at intervals to obtain better results

Liming:
Liming of certain drugs as ginger, nutmeg to protect
against insect attack provides only partial protection.
4.Low temperature storage:
This method is preferred to fumigants and liming.
Adult insects, pupae, larvae and eggs are sometimes killed
by very low temperatures.
5. Exposure to alternate periods of low and high
temperatures frequently:
It is more effective for killing insects than a
prolonged period of low temperature exposure
 General considerations for storage of crude drugs:

1. Storage facilities for medicinal material should be well aerated, dry and
protected from light, and, when necessary, be supplied with air-
conditioning and humidity control equipment as well as facilities to
protect against rodents, insects and livestock.

2. The floor should be tidy, without cracks and easy to clean. Medicinal
material should be stored on shelves which keep the material a sufficient
distance from the walls; measures should be taken to prevent the occurrence
of pest infestation, mould formation, rotting or loss of oil; and inspections
should be carried out at regular intervals.

3. Continuous in-process quality control measures should be implemented to

eliminate substandard materials, contaminants and foreign matter prior to
and during the final stages of packaging. Processed medicinal plant
materials should be packaged in clean, dry boxes, sacks, bags or other
containers in accordance with standard operating procedures and national
and/or regional regulations of the producer and the end-user countries.
4. Materials used for packaging should be non-polluting, clean, dry and in
undamaged condition and should conform to the quality requirements for the
medicinal plant materials concerned. Fragile medicinal plant materials should
be packaged in rigid containers.

5. Dried medicinal plants/herbal drugs, including essential oils, should be

stored in a dry, well-aerated building, in which daily temperature
fluctuations are limited and good aeration is ensured
6. Fresh medicinal plant materials should be stored at appropriate low
temperatures, ideally at 2-8C; frozen products should be stored at less than -
20C.

7. Small quantity of crude drugs could be readily stored in air tight, moisture
proof and light proof container such as tin, cans, covered metal tins or amber
glass containers.

8. Wooden boxes and paper bags should not be used for storage of crude
drugs.
 Digitalis and wild cherry bark- stored along with desiccating
agents.
Colophony and squill should be stored in entire form, if
powdered colophony gets oxidized and squill becomes
hygroscopic and forms rubbery mass.
Fixed oil in ergot becomes rancid on storage should be
defatted prior to storage
Siam benzoin is added as a preservative to lard to prevent
rancidity.
Air tight containers should be used for storing drugs which are
sensitive to atmospheric oxygen.
Air in the containers can be replaced by nitrogen- shark liver
oil, papain.