Henna leaves are the raw material of commercial body and hair dyes. According to historical and ethnobotanical information, henna was one of the first plants used for such purpose. However, differences can be observed between henna products by the origin of the raw material, the presence of other plants, or the addition of various contaminants that may cause allergies and permanent scarring. Nowadays henna is used everywhere but it lacks the necessary controls. We report a pharmacognostic study focused on quality control of henna's raw materials from different countries or based on other plants. The analytic approach based on High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) was proposed as a reliable technique to evaluate natural products complex mixtures, as it is also the case of derived botanical marketed products.

Availability of rapid and reliable methods for detection of quality in plant raw materials and botanicals is urgently needed. The recent HPTLC instrumentation allows to obtain fingerprints useful to ascertain identity and composition. The results of direct application of HPTLC devices in selected cases, using the fingerprint approach, are here reported, considered and compared with other methods. HPTLC is proposed as an useful tool for analytical validation of the novel forms of natural products.

The head space of the aerial parts of Lithraea caustica was analyzed by Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) technique, obtaining as main volatile compounds the monoterpenes, myrcene, a -pinene, , p-cymene and limonene, as well as the sesquiterpene caryophylene.

De las partes áereas de Lithraea caustica y usando la técnica de Micro-Extracción en Fase Sólida (MEFS), fueron identificados y cuantificados los principales compuestos volátiles: los monoterpenos, mirceno, a -pineno, p-cimeno y limoneno, y el sesquiterpeno cariofileno.