Asian Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Science

Sesbania grandiflora, family: Fabaceae commonly known as ‘sesbania’, is widely used as Indian folk medicine. S.grandiflora has the common names of Agati, Corkwood Tree and West Indian Pea. In India it is known as vaka or basna. Traditionally Sesbania gradiflora is used alone or with other medicinal plants to treat a variety of ailments. The plant's extracts were screened for the presence of phytochemicals and were used to determine their free radical scavenging activity. The extracts showed potent antioxidant activity in the scavenging of DPPH radicals. The potent antioxidant activity of the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Sesbania gradiflora may be due to the high phenolic content such as tannins and flavonoids, was proved by estimation of total phenolic content.