PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTIMICROBIAL SCREENING OF HYOSCYAMUSM MUTICUS, A PLANT FOUND IN THE NORTHERN BORDER REGION OF SAUDI ARABIA

Hyoscyamus, commonly known as henbane, comprise of a small genus of flowering plants in the Solanaceae family. Hyoscyamus muticus L. or (Sakran al Misri) Egyptian henbane is a small perennial plant belonging to this family, which is famous for its tropane alkaloid content. This plant of the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia origin was studied for its pharmacognostic features, phyto-constituents and antimicrobial activity. The study was conducted on leaf, flower and stem extract. The extracts were fractionated with chloroform, hexane and water, which were also investigated for antimicrobial studies along with the ethanolic extract. The extracts of the leaf, flower and stem contained alkaloids, carbohydrates and sterols. Antimicrobial activity was investigated on some selected pathogenic organisms like Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Candida albicans using the agar well diffusion method. The flower and stem extracts showed insignificant antimicrobial activity, while the leaf extract exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against all strains in all fractions. The ethanol extract showed the prominent activity which was followed by the chloroform extract and the hexane extract, respectively. The further studies may provide fruitful insight about the main constituents of the ethanolic extract responsible for the antimicrobial activity. Kew words: Hyoscyamus muticus, Northern Border Region, Saudi Arabia, Antimicrobial activity