The entire dried plant of Fumaria officinalis Linn. commonly known as Shahtra is used as a important medicinal drug of herbal origin in Unani system of Medicine. The plant possesses many medicinal properties and it is an important component of some marketed herbal formulations. There are various other species of Fumaria that are sometime used in place of F.officinalis . So phytochemical and physico-chemical studies on the whole plant of F.officinales has been undertaken for its pharmacopoeial standardization in order to lay down standards for the quality control, genuinity and purity.

The main aspects included in the study are organoleptic characters, physico- chemical constants, qualitative determination of organic chemical constituents, thin layer chromatographic profile and IR spectral study of the drug.