Phytochemical Screening of Gloriosa superba L. - from different Geographical Positions

Gloriosa superba Linn. is one of the important medicinal plant now in endangered list. This plant is widely used for several ethano-medicinal purposes by tribal peoples and traditional practitioners. Seeds and tubers contain valuale alkaloids viz., colchine and colchicoside as the major constituents, which are used an antidote for snake bites, gout and rheumatism. Present study was to evaluate the phytochemicals present in leaves, flowers, seeds and tuber samples were collected from four different places of Dharmapuri District. Preliminary phytochemical analyses were carried out by standard procedures. Methanol extract of all samples were evaluated for protein, starch, total sugar and total phenol. The screening tests also were performed for the presence of the following secondary metabolites such as alkaloid, flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, saponins, steroids, tannin and terpenoids. The results were revealed the presence of various classes of compounds in different parts of the plant. Among the five different geographically collected plant samples, the Hoganekkal Hills sample showed the maximum amount of bioactive compounds than the other samples. The result of the extract from the tuber and seed samples were yields high amount of various biologically active compounds than the leaves and flowers. These compounds could serve as potential source for traditional medicines. Further research on this plant for the specific part could be used for isolation and characterization in large scale production. Index Terms Gloriosa superba, phytochemicals, enzymes, alkaloids, glycosides, and steroids