Macroscopic: Roots straight, unbranched, thickness varying with age, roots bear fibre-like secondary roots, outer surface buff to grey-yellow with longitudinal wrinkles; crown consists of 2-6 remains of stem base; stem bases variously thickened; nodes prominent only on the side from where petiole arises, cylindrical, green worth longitudinal wrinkles; fracture, short and uneven; odour, characteristic; taste bitter and acrid.

Microscopic: Transverse section of root shows cork exfoliated or crushed; whin present isodiamatric and non-lignified; cork cambium of 2-4 diffused rows of cells; secondary Cortex about twenty layers of compact parenchymatous cells; phloem consists of sieve rubes, companion cells, phloem parenchyma; cambium 4-5 rows of tangentially elongated cells; secondary xylem hard forming a closed vascular ring separated by multiseriate medullary rays; a few xylem parenchyma.

Foreign matter     - Not more than 2 percent,
Total ash            - Not more than 7 percent,
Acid-insoluble ash – Not more than 1 percent,
Alcohol (25 %)     - Not less than 15 per cent, 
soluble extractive
ASSAY- Ashwagandha consists of not less than 0.2 per cent of total alkaloids, when assayed as follows:-
Take about 30g accurately weighed of the powdered drug, cover with Alcohol (90 per cent) and allow standing overnight. Extract for 6 hours so wet apparatus and concentrate to a syrup residue. Tare with 25,20,15 and 10 ml portions of 5 per cent Sulphuric Acid until complete extraction of alkaloid is affected.
To the combined acid extracts add an excess of Dragandorf’s reagent. Filter under suction and dissolve the residue in Acetone, Shake the acetone solution with freshly prepared suspension of 2g Silver Carbonate in 10 ml of Water. Filter the solution and wash the precipitate with Acetone, Alcohol and water in that order. Pass sufficient Hydrogen Sulphide through the filtrate. Boil the solution for 10 minutes, filter and evaporate under vacuum in tared flask. Add to the residue 5 ml of Ethyl Alcohol, evaporate to dryness, repeat the process once again and weight the residue to constant weight in vacuum.