WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants - travolekar.ru

Fructus Myrtilli
Plant material of interest: dried ripe fruit
General appearance
The dried berry is a dark blue, subglobular, shrunken berry, about 5 mm
in diameter, with a scar at the lower end and coarsely wrinkled exocarp.
The pedicel may be attached or detached, and often the remains of the
style, nectar disc, and calyx are persistent at the apex of the berry, with the
calyx appearing as a circular fold. The mesocarp is purple. There are
4–5 locules, each containing many seeds; each seed is approximately 1 mm
long with a yellowish brown dimpled surface (1).
Organoleptic properties
Odour: no characteristic odour; taste: sweet and slightly bitter (1).
Microscopic characteristics
The exocarp consists of polygonal, rectangular or quadratic cells with
slightly pitted tangential walls. Groups of 2–4 cells occur, each group surrounded
by a thick wall, while within the groups the walls are considerably
thinner. The mesocarp consists of large parenchymatous cells with
scattered solitary sclereids and vascular bundles containing vessels with
spiral or helical secondary wall thickenings. The endocarp is composed
largely of groups of sclereids similar to those in the mesocarp and having
an elongated or nearly quadratic shape. The outer layer of the testa consists
of elongated, heavily thickened and pitted sclereids. In cross-section
these cells have U-shaped secondary walls with the unthickened side occurring
on the outer tangential wall. The endosperm cells are thin-walled
and contain droplets of fixed oil. Calcium oxalate crystals may occur occasionally
in all tissues (2).
Powdered plant material
Violet-pink sclereids from the endocarp and the mesocarp and testa, usually
aggregated, with thick, channelled walls; reddish brown fragments of
the epicarp consisting of polygonal cells with moderately thickened walls;
brownish yellow fragments of the outer seed testa made up of elongated
cells with U-shaped thickened walls; calcium oxalate crystals of various
sizes as clusters and prisms. Also present are parenchyma cells, vascular
bundles and oil droplets (1).
General identity tests
Macroscopic and microscopic examinations, thin-layer chromatography
(1, 2), and high-performance liquid chromatography (6, 7).
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