MACRO- AND MICROSCOPIC CHARACTERS OF HEATHER SHOOTS AND THEIR DEVELOPING IN DIFFERENT FINENESS GRADE
Heather (Calluna vulgarisHull.) is widely used in folk medicine, but is still beyond the scientific medicinal practice. The purpose of the present study was to distinguish external and microscopic characters of Calluna vulgaris shoots and to establish the influence of fineness grade on their detection. In this paper external and microscopic characters of Calluna vulgaris shoots were revealed. Detection of diagnostic characters was investigated using fractions of powdered plant material with different particle size. Milling heather shoots to 200 µ had not been shown to influence the detection of microscopic characters, while identification by external characters is applicable to powdered material with particle size not less than 1500.