PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL SCREENING OF ENDANGERED MEDICINAL PLANTS OF HARYANA, INDIA

As a large portion of population in the world is dependent on plant based medicines, particularly in developing world, study of medicinal plants becomes imperative. Also, rising global interest in herbal products makes it compulsory to scrutinize the presence of active ingredients for their proper therapeutic applications. The present minireview looks into the status of endangered medicinal plants of Haryana state of India. Of the eight medicinal plants explored viz., Aegle marmelos, Acorus calamus, Celastrus paniculatus, Gloriosa superba, Oroxylum indicum, Pueraria tuberosa, Symplocos racemosa and Terminalia arjuna, phenols were found to be present in A. marmelos, C. paniculatus, O. indicum and T. arjuna. Steroids were detected in A. marmelos, A. calamus, C. paniculatus, G. superba, O. indicum and S. racemosa. Presence of alkaloids and glycosides were there in A. marmelos, G. superba, O. indicum, P. tuberosa and S. racemosa where as flavonoids were there in A. marmelos, C. paniculatus, O. indicum and P. tuberosa. Terpenoids were detected in A. marmelos, G. superba, O. indicum, P. tuberosa and T. arjuna and tannins were absent in A. calamus, C. paniculatus, G. superba and P. tuberosa. Antimicrobial profile assay of these plants against various pathogenic bacteria and fungi viz. Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus was analyzed and results summarized indicates various level of inhibition against these pathogens indicating the importance of these medicinal plants for their therapeutic application.