Preliminary phytochemical screening of Salvadora oleoides Decne (Salvadoraceae)

Abstract

The plant Salvadora oleoides Decne is a small herb, grows particularly well along rocks and in the dry mountainous areas of Gujarat. The leaves and flowers are used as cooling agents and as blood purifiers. The leaf paste is applied on an open wound and inflamed areas by the local people of this region. The pharmacognostical and phytochemical studies of leaf of this plant have not been reported. Therefore, the present investigation was planned to study the pharmacognostical and phytochemical aspects of Salvadora oleoides. Morphological and microscopical examination of Salvadora oleoides leaf was carried out using the reported methods in standard texts. Physical constants of crude drugs like loss on drying, ash values and extractive values were determined. Leaf constants like stomatal number, stomatal index, pallisade ratio, vein islet numbers and vein termination numbers were also determined to establish the standards. The preliminary phytochemical screening with the various qualitative chemical tests revealed the presence of carbohydrates, glycosides, saponins, steroids, triterpenes, proteins, amino acids and mucilage were present in the leaf extracts of Salvadora oleoides. The thin layer chromatography was also carried out as per the standard texts.