A PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF MEDICINAL PLANTS: A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED PLANT SPECIES AT THREE PHENOLOGICAL STAGES

Qualitative phytochemical determination of eight selected ethnomedicinally important plant species was carried out on crude ethanolic extract, n-Hexane, chloroform and ethyl-acetate fractions. These plant species were collected at three phenological stages from Tall Dardyal Hills, Tehsil Kabal, District Swat which were used by the locals in traditional indigenous health care system. These plant species were analysed for the presence and absence of twelve important secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, anthocyanin and betacyanins, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, glycosides, amino acids and proteins, reducing sugars, saponins, steroids, tannins and terpenoids. The current study revealed that secondary metabolites were predominantly found in ethanolic crude extract followed by ethylacetate and chloroform fractions and rarely observed in n-hexane fraction. The investigation is of particular significance to know the presence of these phytochemicals in various fractions and to provide a base line data for its further quantification and utilization in pharmaceutical industry.