Phytochemical study of some selected medicinal plants and its ethnobotanical importance to the indigenous communities of Assam

The use of folk medicine is widespread and plants still a large source of natural antioxidants that might serve as leads for the development of novel drugs. Therefore, there is an urgent need to assess the utilization of traditional medicine and find out their phytochemical constituents in particular reference to the antioxidant components. Thus the purpose of the present study is to investigate the antioxidant potential and carry out ethnobotanical survey of the selected medicinal plants found in Assam. The study showed that the selected 7 medicinal plant extracts possess antioxidant activities with good content of polyphenol compounds except in Tetrastigma thomsonianianum Planch. The best results were obtained for Hibiscus sabdariffa L. contains adequate phenolic and flavonoids. The study suggests that the extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. possesses a significant reducing power and free radical scavenging ability which might be helpful in preventing or slowing the progress of various oxidative stress related diseases.