PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC AND AQUEOUS LEAF EXTRACTS OF PHLOGACANTHUSTHYRSIFLORUS

Phlogancanthusthyrsiflorus is an underexploited medicinal plant of Acanthaceae family found in Himalayan range comprising of Bhutan, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Various parts of the plant are used in traditional and folk medicine for fever, gastritis, pharyngitis, cough, bronchial asthma and other ailments. The present study was taken up to analyze the phytochemical contents of leaves of plant using aqeous and methanolic extracts of Phlogancanthusthyrsiflorus in order to check the feasibility of the plant extract to be used as a source for various phytopharmaceutical applications. Qualitative phytochemical tests confirmed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, phenols, tannins, quinones, and terpenoids. Further, antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assay.