Physico-chemical and phytochemical evaluation of crude drug powder (leaves) of Polyalthia longifolia

Abstract

Medicaments obtained from natural sources play a pivotal role as therapeutic aids in many aspects for human beings to alleviate health and the quality of life. Polyalthia longifolia (Ashoka) has been used in the traditional system of medicine to cure various disorders and has been a promising source of various phytoconstituents. The use of plant extracts and isolated compound/s has provided basis in the preparation of the various phyto-based medicines. P. longifolia is an evergreen tree, which is native to India and has been known to possess various activities such as analgesic, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic and anti-bacterial properties. The preliminary studies of P. longifolia seeds have been performed to investigate its various aspects. The preliminary phytochemical evaluation when performed on the various extracts indicated that the leaves are rich source of alkaloids, tannins, phenols, flavonoids and carbohydrates. This study provides the information on the moisture content and the fundamental datas on the presence of different phytoconstituents present in the leaves of the plant.