PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PHYTOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF STEM BARK ERYTHRINA INDICA LAM.

The present study was aimed at pharmacognostic and preliminary phytochemical evaluations of Erythrina indica lam. Stem bark belonging to family Leguminosae. E. indica is a native of costal forest communities from east Africa, through southeast to Australia. In India it is distributed in coast forests from Mumbai to Malabar and in the Andaman’s and Nicobars. This tree common in Bengal and many parts of India especially in southern often grown in gardens. Bark is used in fever, liver ailment and rheumatism, nervine sedative activities. The pharmacognostic investigations were carried out in terms of organoleptic, microscopic and physical parameters. The dried root powder was subjected to successive Soxhlet extraction using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol, ethanol and water. These solvent extracts were subjected to a preliminary phytochemical screening to detect the different chemical principles present viz., carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, steroids, glycosides, alkaloids, tannins and phenolic compounds. The phytochemical evaluation revealed the presence of