Preliminary Phytochemical Investigations of Three Species of Traditional Medicinal Plants of Tribal Regions of Maharashtra (India)

Since ancient period, plant based traditional systems of medicines such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Homeopathy have greatly contributed towards primary health care of human beings. At present also many herbal drugs are being used not only in various formulations of traditional systems but also in modern medicines. The present need of the hour is to authenticate, standardize the drug and scientifically prove its efficacy. Researches are now on to study scientifically active ingredients of traditional medicines. However, lacunas have been remained in many plants, in their scientific evaluation of active ingredients. In view of this, present study of proximate preliminary qualitative phytochemical analysis of Euphorbia ligularia, Tectaria coadunata and Clematis hedysarifolia was carried out using standard conventional methods. For this study methanolic, aqueous and petroleum ether extracts were used. Preliminary phytochemical screening of all the three species indicated the presence of carbohydrates, tannins, anthraquinone and coumarin glycosides, steroids and flavonoids. Results of TLC and HPTLC studies of Clematis hedysarifolia revealed that extract contains wide range of active ingredients. The present findings are very encouraging and indicate that these plants need further extensive study for its therapeutic effect.