Preliminary screening and comparative evaluation of antioxidant potential of medicinally important plant Xanthium strumarium L.

Xanthium strumarium L. a medicinal plant commonly found as a weed, is widely distributed in North America, Brazil, China, Malaysia and hotter parts of India. The genus Xanthium includes 25 species; two species of Xanthium, X. indicum and X. strumarium have been reported in India. The herb is traditionally used mostly in treating several ailments. Various parts of Xanthium strumarium L. are found to possess useful medicinal properties such as antibacterial, antitumour, anticancer, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, antitussive, hypoglycaemic, antimitotic, antitrypanosomal, antimalarial, diuretic, antioxidant, analgesic, repellent and insecticidal activities. The present work deals with the detail study of extractive values, Phytochemical test and fluorescence analysis. Fluorescence test of stem of the plant followed by the spectrophotometric study of phenolic and flavonoid content in semi polar to polar stem extracts. It was found that the polar methanol extract was found to be potent compared to acetone and ethanol extracts. This preliminary study undeniably useful to do further biological study.