Preliminary phytochemical screening of some Indian Medicinal Plants.

Alkaloids, tannins, saponins, steroid, terpenoid, flavonoids, phenolic compounds and cardie glycoside distribution in five medicinal plants belonging to different families were assessed and compared. The medicinal plants investigated were Asteracantha longifolia (L.) Nees, Psassiflora edulis Sims, Berberis tinctoria Lesch, Sphaeranthus indicus Linn, and Solanum trilobatum Linn. All the plants were found to contain Phenols, Cardiac glycosides, Steroids, Saponins and Tannin except for the absence of flavonoids and Terpenoids in A. longifolia (L.)Nees and Alkaloids in, P edulis Sims, A.longifolia (L.)Nees, B. tinctoria Lesch and S. indicus Linn. respectively. The significance of the plants in traditional medicine and the importance of the distribution of these chemical constituents were discussed with respect to the role of these plants in ethnomedicine in India.