Polyalthia longifolia (Annonaceae) commonly
called Ashoka, is a tall, handsome, evergreen
ornamental avenue tree. It grows along the road
sides, in gardens and in parks. The seeds of
Polyalthia longifolia were collected from near by
garden, washed and dried in an oven at 100 0
c.
50gms dried PL seeds were crushed, mixed with 20
ml of Conc.sulphuric acid in a beaker with
vigorous stirring. Charring of seed occurred
immediately accompanied by evolution of fumes.
When the reaction subsided, the mixture was left
over at room temperature for a period of 24 hours,
to facilitate charring of the material. At the end of
this period, the product was washed with large
volumes of water to remove free Sulphuric acid
and dried at 100 oC.The dried product was then
ground and sieved to obtained uniform particle
size. The sulphuric acid treated material was then
kept in an air tight bottle