Abstract

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY AND QUALITATIVE ESTIMATION OF PHYTOCHEMICALS PRESENT IN HEMIDESMUS INDICUS

Aparna Banerjee and Subha Ganguly*

Abstract

Hemidesmus indicus – Anantamool, is a plant species of Apocynaceae family commonly found in India, specially in different areas of West Bengal. It is a slender, laticiferous, semi-erect endangered shrub. Roots are woody and aromatic as it contain camphor like substances and it is known for its immense medicinal values. Antimicrobial activity of different plant part extracts were checked against Escherichia coli, Bacillus sp., Aspergillus niger and Curvularia lunata. The present study was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the marked presence of different phytochemicals available from acetone and ethyl acetate extracts of leaf, stem and root parts of H. indicus which were tested according to standardized protocols and showed to contain large amount of Flavonoid, Steroid, Phenol, Terpenoid, Anthraquinone, Cardiac glycoside, Amino acid, Tannin in H. indicus leaf, stem and root; which probably supports its antimicrobial and antifungal activity.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, Hemidesmus indicus, Phytochemicals.