Pharmacognosy Laboratory
Select the crude-drug sample, mount it in chloral hydrate, place the slide on a compound microscope, focus at low and high power, scan the field for diagnostic elements and identify the drug with the evidence that supports it.
Clove is the dried flower bud of Syzygium aromaticum. Powdered crude drugs are identified microscopically by their characteristic elements — cell types, cell contents, crystals, pollen — and by the absence of elements that would indicate an adulterant.
Chloral hydrate is the usual mountant for a general examination: when warmed it clears the tissue, so crystals, glands and stomata are visible. Starch is tested separately with iodine.
Start at low power to find and focus the specimen; switch to high power and use only the fine focus. Field of view = eyepiece field number ÷ objective magnification (18 mm ÷ 40 = 0.45 mm), which lets you estimate sizes.
The microscope image in this lab is a SCHEMATIC ILLUSTRATION drawn from the reference description, not a photomicrograph. Element sizes are to scale; their appearance is simplified.
Clove, powdered (jar PG-07) · Chloral hydrate solution · Iodine solution N/50
Curriculum
Listed in the UoK Pharm-D practical syllabus (PHG-411 Pharmacognosy Lab-I, 2nd year, 1st semester: powdered drug examination — flower bud, Eugenia caryophyllus). The microscope view is a schematic illustration. Not faculty-reviewed.
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