The plant C. rotundus belonging to family
Cyperaceae are widely found growing abundantly
throughout Sri Lanka especially in tropical regions. The
rhizomes of C. rotundus were collected from Kaithady,
Unit of Siddha Medicine, University of Jaffna in the
month of June 2011. The plant was identified by
observing the morphological characters reference to the
text Indian medicinal plants by Kirthikar and Basu15
.
Botanical identification was confirmed by a botanist,
Department of botany, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
Fresh healthy rhizomes were used to study the
microscopic, and macroscopic analysis. The shade dried
rhizomes were cut it into small pieces and made into
powdered using mechanical grinder and sieved up to
60/80 meshes and preserved in air tight container for
further analysis. The powders of the rhizome were used
for physicochemical determination and phytochemical
screening