Pharmacognostic and Phytochemical Evaluation with Isolation and Anthelmintic Activity of Dypsis lutescens Leaf extracts

Dypsis lutescens (H. Wendl) Beentje & J. Dransf. is an ornamental plant which has the synonyms as butterfly palm, areca palm etc belonging to family Arecaceae and the plant is available in everyone's household and gardens but is not studied for its pharmacognostic features and its full-fledged therapeutic value. The current research work is aimed to perform the complete physico-chemical, pharmacognostic, phytochemical analysis along with isolation of flavonoids from leaves and anthelmintic potency screening of the leaves extract of plant. The research was initiated by collecting the fresh plant material and its authentication. The collected plant material was studied for its morphological and microscopical features like determination of transverse section, stomatal number, stomatal index, physico-chemical features like moisture content, ash value and studied for phytochemical characters to identify and isolate the phytocompounds present. Followed by evaluation of anthelmintic efficacy of aqueous and ethanolic extract of Dypsis lutescens leaves using Pheretima posthuma as test worms to determine the time of paralysis and time of death and the potency was compared with reference standard Albendazole. The results revealed that the extracts consists of carbohydrates, amino acids, flavonoids, glycosides, tannins, etc, isolation of flavonoid content was done through thin layer chromatochography and confirmed by spectral characterization. The alcoholic and aqueous extract of Dypsis lutescens exhibited significant anthelmintic activity as evidenced by dose dependent paralysing time and death time. Further extensive research is required for isolation of phytochemicals and their pharmacological activities.