PHARMACOGNOSTICAL AND PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF THE LEAVES OF KEDROSTIS FOETIDISSIMA (JACQ.)COGN.

Abstract

The objective of the study is to cover the pharmacognostical and preliminary phytochemical screening of traditional medicinal plant, Kedrostis foetidissima belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae. This study includes organoleptic characters, physico-chemical analysis, fluorescence analysis, behaviour of leaf powder with different chemical reagents, phytochemical extraction, extractive yield and qualitative phytochemical screening. The preliminary screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, tannins, phenolics, glycosides, carbohydrates, proteins and aminoacids which explains that the plant must have valuable medicinal properties and so it can be explored