ABSTRACT
Pharmacopoeial standards are prescribed to control the quality of raw herbal drugs and ‹nished formulations and so to maintain safety and ef‹cacy. Various pharmacopoeial bodies, such as the Indian Pharmacopoeia (2010), The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, British Pharmacopoeia (2010), and Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2005), prescribed the standards for Phyllanthus species, including their description, identi‹cation test, ethanol-and water-soluble extractive values, microbial limit, and assay. The standards given in the pharmacopoeias would be applied to differentiate species-to-species identi‹cation and to detect adulterants. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are invaluable quality assessment tools for the evaluation of herbal products and marker compounds. The Indian Pharmacopoeia and the British Pharmacopoeia applied HPTLC and HPLC techniques for identi‹cation and assay of certain Phyllanthus species. This chapter focuses on the different pharmacopoeial standards and comparative status of Phyllanthus species. Monographs of Phyllanthus emblica and Phyllanthus amarus are available in the ‹st edition of the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, 1990 and the monograph of Phyllanthus fraternus is available in the Indian Herbal Pharmacopoeia.
