Preliminary phytochemical screening of the medicinal Plant Adenanthera pavonina and its morphological variation

Abstract

Adenanthera pavonina L.(vernacular:Madatiya) is a medicinal plant, belongs to family Fabaceae. It is widely used for the treatments of many diseases in various therapeutic systems including Ayruveda therapeutic system. The medicinal uses and the distribution of the species were studied using a structured questionnaire survey considering 100 sample population. Morphological characters were analyzed using the specimens collected from their natural habitats to infer the phenetic relationships and has shown no variations with respect to their habitat differences. Qualitative phytochemical analysis was done to identify the chemical compounds present in the stem bark extracts of different solvents such as hexane, chloroform, methanol and water. Phytochemical screening of stem barks of the different samples confirms the presence of phytochemicals; alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, tannins, steroids, proteins and saponins in the extracts of the methanolic, chloroform and water. This study draws attention to the need of further analysis of the active principles of the species in order to understand their mode of action in controlling different diseases.