Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources,
Vol. 4(4), December 2013, pp. 363-370
Evaluation of phytochemical, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of
Memecylon L. species from Western Ghats
A R Sivu1, #
, N S Pradeep1*, K B Rameshkumar
2 and A G Pandurangan
1
1Plant Systematic and Evolutionary Science Division, 2Phytochemistry and Phytopharmacology Division
Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram-695 562, Kerala, India
Received 18 April 2012; Accepted 29 July 2013
The genus Memecylon L. is a least explored group of plants and the present study reports the preliminary phytochemical
and pharmacological evaluation of 32 Memecylon species collected from the Western Ghats. Among these 4 are rare and
endangered and 16 endemic. The methanolic extracts of the leaves were evaluated for their phenolic and flavonoid contents,
in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Phenolic contents of the methanol extracts of leaves were comparatively
low in the species, ranging from 89.86 mg/g (M. gracile Bedd.) to 05.04 mg/g (M. depressum Benth.). Flavonoid compounds
were highest in M. grande Retz. (39.56 mg/g) and lowest in M. talboltianum Brandis (07.60 mg/g). The in vitro free radical
scavenging assay was done using DPPH method and the results showed moderate activities to the leaf extracts. The highest
antioxidant activity was observed for M. heyneanum Benth. (IC50=15.30 µg/mL). Antibacterial activity against three Gram-
positive and six Gram- negative bacteria was tested by disc diffusion method and the leaf extracts showed remarkable broad
spectrum antibacterial activity, especially for M. deccanense Clarke, M. terminale Dalzell, M. heyneanum Benth.,
M. clarkeanum Cogn. and M. sessile Benth.
Keywords: Memecylon species, Western Ghats, Phenolics, Flavonoids, Antioxidant, Antibacterial.
IPC code; Int. cl. (2011.01)−A61K 36/00.
Introduction India has a rich floristic diversity with 46, 550
plant species that accounts for about 11% of the total
world flora, of which 28 % are endemic to the
country1. Among the four hot spots of floristic
diversity in India, the Western Ghats hosts nearly
4500 flowering plants are endowed with high
endemism with nearly 1500 endemics. Most of
the floristic wealth, especially the endemic species
remains unexplored regarding their potential utility
and the chemical constituents or bioactivities.
The wild underutilised plants have become an
interesting source of nutraceutical, healthcare,
cosmetic and food industries. Indiscriminate
exploitation, habitat destruction and introduction
of exotic species lead to the reduction of population
of the endemic, rare and endangered species and
therefore there is an urgent need to conserve these
species along with evaluation of their potentialities.
The genus Memecylon L. is among the least explored
group of plants and hence an attempt has been made
to evaluate their phytochemical and pharmacological
potential.
The genus Memecylon L., belonging to the
family Melastomataceae, is represented world over
by around 250 species of shrubs and trees in the
paleotropical region3. They are distributed in all
types of habitats ranging from deciduous, semi
evergreen, evergreen and montane forests with a wide
range of altitude from sea level to 2000 m. In India
the genus Memecylon is represented by 39 species of
which 21 are endemic to the country and the Western
Ghats is reported to host 29 species4-8
. However,
while studying the molecular taxonomy of the genus
Memecylon L. of the Western Ghats, the authors did
collect 3 more Memecylon species (M. procerum Thw.,
M. clarkeanum Cogn. and M. parvifolium Thw.) as
new records to India (Plate 1). Among 32 species
collected from the Western Ghats, 4 species, viz.
M. lawsonii Gamble, M. lushingtonii Gamble,
M. flavescens Gamble and M. sisparense Gamble
comes under rare and endangered categories (Plate 1),
while 16 species are endemic to the region9 (Table 1).
——————
*Correspondent author:
Phone: 0472 2869226
E-mail: [email protected] #
Present Address: Department of Botany, NSS College Nilamel,
Kollam-691 535, Kerala
INDIAN J NAT PROD RESOUR, DECEMBER 2013
364
Plate 1—Common Memecylon species (a: M. umbellatum, b: M. edule and c: M. randerianum); Rare and endangered
species (d: M. sisparense, e: M. lawsonii, f: M. flavascence and g: M. lushingtonii); New records to India (h: M. parvifolium, i:
M. procerum and j: M. clarkeanum)
SIVU et al.: PHYTOCHEMICAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF MEMECYLON L. SPECIES
365
Memecylon species are utilized world wide as
timbers, ornamentals, source of edible fruits and
yellow dye in addition to their medicinal properties3.
Among the different Memecylon species, M. umbellatum
Burm., is the most common species (Plate 1), distributed
in India and Sri Lanka and known as ‘iron wood tree’
(locally known as Kasavu, Kayampoo, Kanalei). The
plant is popular as ornamental tree and widely used in
traditional medicines and also as source of food, dye
and timber. The pulpy, astringent ripe berries of the
tree are edible and are eaten in time of famine.
The leaves yield a yellow dye and in combination
Table 1—Total phenolic, flavonoid compounds and DPPH scavenging activity of the leaf methanol extracts of Memecylon species
M. sp.
ID
Memecylon species Voucher
No
Total
Phenolics
Total
Flavonoids
IC50 values
(µg/mL)
M 1 M. agastyamalaianum Santhosh et al * 65102 38.03 ± 0.02 08.40 ± 0.04 87.01 ± 0.01
M 2 M. angustifolium Wight 65106 23.97 ± 0.02 10.03 ± 0.04 87.08 ± 0.02
M 3 M. capitellatum L. 63524 06.04 ± 0.02 31.93 ± 0.04 115.37 ± 0.04
M 4 M. depressum Benth. * 61748 05.04 ± 0.01 17.76 ± 0.03 128.13 ± 0.03
M 5 M. flavescens Gamble* 65126 05.05 ± 0.01 11.23 ± 0.04 115.17 ± 0.04
M 6 M. gracile Bedd. * 65104 89.86 ± 0.04 08.42 ± 0.01 58.56 ± 0.04
M 7 M. grande Retz. 61736 09.90 ± 0.04 39.56 ± 0.04 64.00 ± 0.02
M 8 M. heyneanum Benth. 63543 61.06 ± 0.03 12.40 ± 0.04 15.30 ± 0.03
M 9 M. clarkeanum Cogn. 63600 59.96 ± 0.04 11.30 ± 0.03 97.37 ± 0.01
M 10 M. lushingtonii Gamble 65146 10.13 ± 0.03 16.70 ± 0.03 148.23 ± 0.04
M 11 M. malabaricum (C. B. Clarke.) Cogn. 63518 25.76 ± 0.03 12.56 ± 0.05 207.24 ± 0.03
M 12 M. rivulare Bremer 61767 15.83 ± 0.04 13.63 ± 0.03 141.20 ± 0.02
M 13 M. sessile Benth. 65120 82.83 ± 0.03 09.16 ± 0.04 40.10 ± 0.04
M 14 M. sisparense Gamble* 65124 30.36 ± 0.06 09.13 ± 0.04 44.06 ± 0.02
M 15 M. sivadasanii Mohanan et al * 61775 14.06 ± 0.01 10.80 ± 0.02 55.10 ± 0.03
M 16 M. subramanii Henry* 63564 09.46 ± 0.04 14.96 ± 0.04 91.06 ± 0.03
M 17 M. talboltianum Brandis* 65161 11.03 ± 0.05 07.60 ± 0.03 114.0 ± 0.02
M 18 M. terminale Dalzell* 65162 65.96 ± 0.15 10.60 ± 0.02 232.47 ± 0.03
M 19 M. umbellatum Burm. 61751 10.10 ± 0.03 15.33 ± 0.05 62.43 ± 0.04
M 20 M. wightii Thw. 63584 06.78 ± 0.03 09.56 ± 0.04 77.21 ± 0.02
M 21 M. mundanthuraianum Viswanathan & Manik.* 65116 51.76 ± 0.04 07.53 ± 0.03 214.27 ± 0.05
M 22 M. bremeri Viswanathan 65136 10.75 ± 0.03 20.33 ± 0.04 53.90 ± 0.03
M 23 M. manickamii Murugan et al * 65171 14.10 ± 0.03 12.50 ± 0.04 85.37 ± 0.03
M 24 M. courtalensis Manickam et al * 63540 05.63 ± 0.05 09.00 ± 0.02 74.22 ± 0.02
M 25 M. tirunelvelicum Murugan et al * 65121 23.73 ± 0.05 13.53 ± 0.04 149.97 ± 0.04
M 26 M. royenii Blume 65138 07.83 ± 0.03 12.50 ± 0.04 145.17 ± 0.04
M 27 M. deccanense Clarke* 65165 67.06 ± 0.01 08.46 ± 0.04 110.00 ± 0.05
M 28 M. edule Roxb. 63558 08.73 ± 0.04 14.36 ± 0.03 82.43 ± 0.03
M 29 M. parvifolium Thw. 63563 64.10 ± 0.03 10.40 ± 0.05 162.37 ± 0.05
M 30 M. procerum Thw. 61752 05.90 ± 0.10 18.20 ± 0.03 103.97 ± 0.03
M 31 M. lawsonii Gamble* 61761 08.83 ± 0.03 12.43 ± 0.04 114.17 ± 0.02
M 32 M. sylvaticum Thw. 61726 15.86 ± 0.02 15.30 ± 0.05 78.13 ± 0.02
* Endemic to the Western Ghats. Phenolic contents: mg gallic acid equivalent per g dry weight of leaves methanol extract. Flavonoid
contents: mg quercetin equivalent per g dry weight of leaves methanol extract. Values are mean ± SD of triplicate experiments.
INDIAN J NAT PROD RESOUR, DECEMBER 2013
366
with myrobalans and sappan wood it produces
bright red tinge10
. In traditional medicines, leaves of
M. umbellatum has been used as a cooling astringent,
in conjunctivitis as a lotion and given internally in
leucorrhoea and gonorrhoea11
. The leaves are also
used for the treatment of diabetes12
, in the treatment
of bone fracture13
, herpes14
, skin diseases15
and snake
bite16
. The leaves and barks are applied to bruises10
.
The decoction of the root is used in excessive
menstrual discharge17,18
. The seeds are used to cure
cough and are sedative19
. Biological activities like
anti-diabetic20-21
, antibacterial22
, antiviral23
and wound
healing activities24
of M. umbellatum leaves have
been reported. The roots also possess analgesic25
and
hepatoprotective26
activities.
Memecylon edule Roxb. is another common
species (Plate 1), well known for its use as a mordant
in silk dyeing. Treatment with the leaf of M. edule is
said to heal burning wounds without any scar. The
anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antioxidant activities
of the leaves supported the traditional use of the
leaves in relieving inflammation and pain27
.
Decoction of roots and heartwood has also been used
to relief fever symptoms of several diseases such as
common cold, measles and chicken-pox27
. The
antibacterial activity of the seed extract of M. edule
has also been evaluated28
. M. malabaricum Cogn.
(syn. M. randerianum Almeida & Almeida).
is a common species (Plate 1) and decoction
of the flowers and twigs is used to treat skin diseases
and chicken pox10
. A paste of young shoot tips
and cumin seeds are applied against herpes and
the decoction of young leaves in combination is
taken against stomach disorders29
. The leaves possess
antimicrobial activity30-31
. The leaves of M. lushingtonii
Gamble has been reported as an effective post-coital
contraceptive32
. The bark of M. angustifolium Wight is
used as a tonic and refrigerant18
.
Out of the 32 Memecylon species collected from
the Western Ghats region, literature survey shows that
only M. umbellatum has been studied for their
chemical constituents. Preliminary phytochemical
screening revealed the presence of phenolic
compounds, flavonoids, steroids and terpenoids in
different extracts of the leaves of M. umbellatum22
.
The proximate components, nutritive values and
elemental analysis of the leaves have been reported33
.
Tannins have been reported in significant quantity
in the bark, followed by leaves, roots, stem and
inflorescence of M. umbellatum34
. α-Amyrin, sitosterol,
oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, sitosterol-β-D-glucoside
and umbelactone have been isolated from the aerial
parts of M. umbellatum Burm.35
. The roots yielded,
octocosonoic acid, cerotic acid, ethyl palmitate,
palmitic acid and butyric acid36
.
The present study reports the quantitative estimation
of the phenolic compounds and flavonoids of the
methanol extracts of the leaves of 32 Memecylon
species distributed in the Western Ghats region of
India along with their in vitro free radical scavenging
activities and antimicrobial activities.
Materials and Methods
Plant Material
Fresh leaves of the Memecylon species (Table 1)
were collected from different localities, including type
localities in the Western Ghats region and voucher
herbarium specimens were deposited in Jawaharlal
Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research
Institute Herbarium (TBGT).
Extraction
The dry leaf powder of the 32 Memecylon species
(10 g each) were extracted with methanol using a
Soxhlet apparatus for 4 h. The vacuum dried extracts
were stored at 4o C until further analysis.
Estimation of total phenolic compounds
Modified Folin-Ciocalteu reagent colorimetric
method was used for the determination of total
phenolics37
. The methanol extract (0.5 mL) was
mixed with 5 mL Folin- Ciocalteu reagent (1:10
dilution with distilled water). After 5 min, 4 mL of
20 % sodium carbonate solution was added. The
mixture was allowed to stand for 15 minutes and the
absorbance was measured at 765 nm. Total phenolics
were estimated as gallic acid equivalent (GAE) mg/g
dry weight of the extract from the calibration curve
using standard gallic acid (10 -50 µg) in methanol.
Estimation of total flavonoids
Aluminium chloride colorimetric method was used
for total flavonoids determination38
. Methanol extract
(0.5 mL) was mixed with 1.5 mL of methanol, 0.1 mL
of 10 % aluminum chloride, 0.1 mL of 1 M potassium
acetate, 2.8 mL of distilled water and left at room
temperature for 30 minutes. Absorbance of the
reaction mixture was measured at 415 nm. Total
flavonoids were estimated from the calibration curve
using standard quercetin (10-50 µg) in methanol and
the results are expressed as quercetin equivalent mg/g
dry weight of extract.
SIVU et al.: PHYTOCHEMICAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF MEMECYLON L. SPECIES
367
DPPH radical scavenging assay
Radical scavenging activity was determined by
spectrophotometric method based on the reduction of
the stable free radical 2, 2-diphenyl- 1-picrylhydrazyl
(DPPH)39
. Diluted methanol extracts were added at
an equal volume to a methanolic solution of DPPH
(200 µM DPPH). After 15 min. at room temperature,
the absorbance was recorded at 517 nm. The activity
was measured as percentage, calculated using the
formula:
% scavenging = [(Acontrol-Asample)/Acontrol] x 100.
The activity was reported as IC50 value; the
concentration of sample (µg/mL) required to scavenge
50 % of DPPH radical, relative to the control (DPPH
without antioxidant agents added). Ascorbic acid was
used as positive control.
Antibacterial assay
Antibacterial activities of the extracts were
screened by the disc diffusion assay40
and the
activities were reported as diameter of the inhibition
zones that includes the disc diameter (6 mm) also.
The concentrated methanol extracts were redissolved
in DMSO and 10 µL of the DMSO extracts
(10 mg/mL) were spotted on Whatman No. 1 filter
paper discs of 6 mm diam. and aseptically applied to
the surface of agar plates at well-spaced intervals.
Authentic strains of Gram-positive [Bacillus subtilis
(MTCC 741), B. cereus (MTCC 430), Staphylococcus
aureus (MTCC 96)] and Gram-negative [Klebseilla
pneumonia (MTCC 109), Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(MTCC 741), Escherichia coli (MTCC 443), Proteus
vulgaris (MTCC 426), Serratia marcescens (MTCC
97), Salmonella typhii (MTCC 733)] bacteria obtained
from Microbial Type Culture Collection (MTCC),
maintained at the Institute of Microbial Technology,
Chandigarh, India were used for the assays. Control
discs impregnated with 10 µL of the solvent DMSO
and the standard drug streptomycin (2 µg per disc)
were used alongside the test discs in each experiment.
Statistical analysis
The experiments were replicated thrice and the
results are expressed as mean ±SD.
Results and Discussion
Phenolic and flavonoid contents
The total phenolic content expressed as mg
GAE/g of the Memecylon species are presented in
Table 1. The method provides a simple test for
determination of total phenolic content of plants due
to its high sensitivity and reproducibility. All the
Memecylon species studied contained phenolics
and are distributed in differential quantities. The
total phenolic content varied from 05.04 mg/g
(M. depressum Benth.) to 89.86 mg/g (M. gracile
Bedd.). Total phenolic content was greater than
50 mg/g extract for M. gracile (89.86 mg/g),
M. sessile Benth. (82.83 mg/g), M. deccanense
Clarke (67.06 mg/g), M. terminale Dalzell
(65.96 mg/g), M. parvifolium Thw. (64.10 mg/g),
M. heyneanum Benth. (61.06 mg/g), M. lawsonii
Gamble (59.96 mg/g) and M. mundanthuraianum
Viswanathan & Manik (51.76 mg/g).
Total flavonoid content was measured spectrophotometrically based on aluminium chloride
complex formation. The flavonoid concentration in the methanol extracts of the dried leaves of Memecylon species in terms of mg quercetin equivalent (QE) per g leaf methanol extract are presented in Table 1. The highest content of flavonoids was found in M. grande Retz. (39.56),
followed by M. capitellatum L. (31.93) and
M. bremeri (20.33). The lowest flavonoid content was found in M. talboltianum Brandis (07.60 mg/g).
Antioxidant activity of the extracts
The DPPH method is a simple, rapid and sensitive
method accepted widely for screening of samples
for radical scavenging activity41
. Table 1 shows
the quantity of each extract needed for 50%
scavenging of the DPPH free radical (IC50). IC50
of the standard compound quercetin was found to
be 10.16 (±1.75) µg/mL. The highest radical
scavenging activity was shown by M. heyneanum
Benth. (IC50 15.30 µg/mL), followed by M. sessile
Benth. (IC50 40.10 µg/mL) and M. sisparense Gamble
(IC50 44.06 µg/mL), while the activity was least for
M. terminale Dalzell (IC50 232.47 µg/mL).
Of the different class of secondary metabolites,
phenolic compounds and particularly flavonoids are
important considering their effects on human nutrition
and health are considerable. The beneficial effects
of phenolic compounds have been attributed mainly
to their antioxidant activity42
. Free radicals are
involved in many disorders like neurodegenerative
diseases, cancer and AIDS. Antioxidants through their
scavenging activities are useful for the management
of those diseases. Currently available synthetic
antioxidants are causing serious side effects and
secondary metabolites from plants are emerging as
INDIAN J NAT PROD RESOUR, DECEMBER 2013
368
promising substitutes for the synthetic ones. The
search for natural antioxidants of dietary, cosmetic
and pharmaceutical potential has become a major
industrial and scientific pursuit recently. Antibacterial activity
The antibacterial activity of different species of Memecylon extracts were tested against a group of clinically important bacterial strains by disc diffusion
assay and the results are reported in Table 2 as zone of inhibition (mm). The results revealed
moderate to good activity against the tested bacterial strains, especially for M. deccanense, M. terminale,
M. heyneanum, M. clarkeanum and M. sessile. The highest inhibition zone (26 mm) was shown by M. agastyamalaianum Santhosh et al against Bacillus
subtilis and Proteus vulgaris, M. heyneanum and M. deccanense Clarke against Proteus vulgaris
and M. parvifolium against Escherichia coli.
M. deccanense showed remarkable activity against all the tested organisms, with greater zone of inhibition than the standard drug at the tested concentrations,
Table 2—Antibacterial activity of methanol extracts of leaves of Memecylon species [Zone of inhibition (mm) by disc diffusion assay]
M. sp ID* B. c S. a B. s E. c K. p P. a P. v S. t S. m
M 1 9 9 26 9 18 13 26 21 12
M 2 12 9 24 11 18 9 14 9 9
M 3 11 8 12 8 16 9 13 11 10
M 4 12 10 14 9 16 14 11 8 8
M 5 10 8 14 10 10 9 11 9 NA
M 6 16 9 21 14 24 17 18 18 11
M 7 20 11 11 9 9 10 10 9 9
M 8 22 15 21 13 16 11 20 19 10
M 9 19 18 18 14 16 14 26 18 20
M 10 10 9 11 8 9 11 9 9 11
M 11 10 10 10 8 14 12 9 9 9
M 12 9 9 9 8 10 12 10 9 17
M 13 18 18 16 18 18 20 18 11 10
M 14 10 9 12 10 14 14 22 10 9
M 15 10 11 21 10 12 11 14 8 8
M 16 9 9 14 NA 16 11 22 9 10
M 17 10 10 11 21 14 13 11 9 10
M 18 21 20 20 19 24 21 20 17 18
M 19 11 9 14 9 16 9 9 10 9
M 20 10 9 12 10 10 11 10 9 8
M 21 10 10 10 9 11 12 13 9 11
M 22 9 9 12 9 11 12 16 9 23
M 23 12 9 13 9 12 13 12 9 9
M 24 9 11 16 16 11 16 20 8 13
M 25 10 9 11 9 14 11 14 9 10
M 26 9 8 13 10 9 10 11 9 6
M 27 21 22 24 24 24 24 26 24 23
M 28 11 9 10 11 12 9 11 8 11
M 29 9 9 20 26 18 21 20 12 12
M 30 16 10 24 10 9 11 18 8 11
M 31 11 14 16 12 10 13 14 8 11
M 32 10 11 11 NA 10 11 NA 11 7
Std 17 22 21 10 16 15 20 16 17
* Leaves methanol extracts of Memecylon species 100 µg/disc (see Table 1 for species name). B. s: Bacillus subtilis; B. c: Bacillus
cereus and S. a: Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria) and K. p: Klebseilla pneumonia, P. a: Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
E. c: Escherichia coli, P. v: Proteus vulgaris, S. m: Serratia marcescens, S. t: Salmonella typhii (Gram-negative bacteria).
Zone of inhibition in mm; Std: Standard antibacterial compound streptomycin (2µg/disc). NA: No activity.
SIVU et al.: PHYTOCHEMICAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF MEMECYLON L. SPECIES
369
while M. terminale showed greater zone of inhibition than the standard drug against all except Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Proteus
vulgaris. M. sylvaticum Thw. and M. flavascence
Gamble showed no inhibition against Escherichia coli,
Proteus vulgaris and Salmonella marascens. All other samples showed inhibition in the range 7-25 mm against all the tested organisms. The present investigation revealed remarkable antibacterial activities of the Memecylon species against the tested bacterial strains. The screening of plants for
antimicrobial activity assumes particular significance in the context of recent emergence of infectious diseases and an increased resistance of some pathogenic microorganisms to the existing drugs.
Among the Memecylon species studied, the most
common are M. umbellatum Burm., M. malabaricum
(syn. M. randerianum) and M. edule Roxb. Though
the total flavonoid content as well as phenolic content
was less for M. umbellatum, the methanolic extract
of the leaves showed remarkable free radical
scavenging activities with IC50 value of 62.43 µg/mL.
The methanol extract of M. umbellatum showed
broad spectrum antibacterial activity with remarkable
activity against Bacillus subtilis, Klebseilla pneumonia,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris and
Salmonella typhii. Recent report on the antimicrobial
activity of the petroleum ether, chloroform and
ethanolic leaf extracts of M. umbellatum also showed
concentration dependent activity against all the tested
bacteria22
. The free radical scavenging activities of
M. malabaricum was negligible (IC50 207. 24 µg/mL),
whereas the antibacterial activity was moderate
with high activity against Klebseilla pneumonia and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It has been reported that
the methanol extract of the leaves of M. malabaricum
has activity against Gram positive, Gram negative and
fungal strains30, 31
. For M. edule, the antioxidant
activity was good with IC50 value 82.43 µg/mL and
the antibacterial activity was moderate, with highest
activities against Klebseilla pneumonia, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Salmonella typhii. Among the
four rare and endangered species, M. sisparense
showed good antioxidant activity with IC50 value
of 44.06 µg/mL, while the antibacterial activity was
remarkable for M. lawsonii.
Conclusion The preliminary phytochemical and pharmacological
evaluation of the hitherto uninvestigated Memecylon
species of the Western Ghats that includes rare,
endangered and endemic species, showed remarkable
antibacterial activity and presence of phenolic and
flavonoid compounds and moderate to good free
radical scavenging activities, suggesting elaborate
investigation of the genus for isolation and
characterisation of constituents and evaluation of the
biological activities. Present study also highlights the
potential of the extensive floristic wealth of the
Western Ghats region yet to be exploited.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Director, JNTBGRI for
providing facilities, Dr. E. S. Santhosh Kumar,
JNTBGRI for identification of the plant materials.
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