Abstract

PRELIMINARY PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF DESICCATED FRONDS OF SELAGINELLA BRYOPTERIS (L) BAKER (PITTAKALU

P. Rupa* and N.Lakshmi Bhavani

Abstract

The present work has been carried on the fern Selaginella bryopteris(L) Baker which belongs to family Selaginellaceae. It shows highdesiccation tolerance, during summer. The fronds are folded inside andform as fist, the desiccated plant rehydrates back with wateravailability.The present study aims to screen the presence of thevarious types of phytoconstituents in desiccated plant. For this studyboth root and stem were extracted using methanol, ethanol and distilledwater as solvents. Specific phyto chemical screening tests for eachgroup were adopted to find various phytoconstituents like alkaloids,phenols, saponins, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, aminoacids,terpenoids, and carbohydrates. The present study revealed the presenceof alkaloids, amino acids, tannins, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids andcarbohydrates in both root and stem extracts. But phenols, anthraquinones and saponins areabsent in both root and in stem extraction. Terpenoids are present only instemextraction (notscreened in aquacious extracts). Phytochemicals are separated effectively in methanolsolvent followed by ethanol and distilled water.

Keywords: PhytoConstituents, Selaginellabryopteris, Root and Stem.