Phytochemicals

Verbesina encelioides is an exotic wild plant species of family Asteraceae. As per recent survey, it is one of the recently emerging exotic weeds in Punjab state of India and shows various characteristics of establishment, growth and dominance like congress grass (Parthenium hysterophorus). The present study deals with phytochemical analysis and allelopathic potential of V. encelioides. For this study, cold and hot aqueous extracts of various parts of V. encelioides like leaves, stem and flowers were prepared separately to check the presence of phytochemicals which are believed to be mostly involved in allelopathic responses of the plants. Preliminary qualitative phytochemical analysis was carried out to identify the secondary metabolites present in the different parts of the selected plant. The analysis indicates the presence of ample number of phyto-constituents like terpenoids, phenols, saponins, tannins, proteins, amino acids, anthraquinones, alkaloids and reducing sugars in weed extracts.

Adansonia digitata Linn. or kalpavriksha is one of the important deciduous tree of angiosperm group that is a native to arid central Africa. Ethnobotanically and pharmacologically it is an important plant because its leaves, bark, fruits and seeds are rich store house of various types of phytochemicals such as proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, fatty acids, flavonol, quercetin and minerals. Every part of baobab is useful in curing many diseases like fever, malaria, sickle cell anaemia inflammation and microbial diseases. The alkaloid “adansonin” is found in the bark and it is used for the treatment of malaria and other fevers as a substitute of quinine. The aim of the present review is to compile all the informations related to ethnic uses, phytochemicals and their pharmacological activity to highlight the possibilities of A. digitata as medicinal and non-medicinal potential for the benefit of human population.

Citrus fruits are potential source of medicinal importance from archaic period. Antimicrobial resistance and side effects of antibiotics is the most common worldwide problem. To minimize these problems, search for novel antimicrobials from natural resources has been increased. The present study was carried out to find out bioactive potential of Citrus cultivars growing invivo and invitro. Leaves, peel, pulp & tissue culture extracts prepared in benzene, ethanol and methanol were screened against four Gram positive, four Gram negative bacteria and two fungal pathogen using agar well diffusion method. Extracts were further analyzed for the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC).Phytochemical analysis of active extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, and tannins.