PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY ON THE FRUITS OF HUGONIA MYSTAX L. (LINACEAE)

An ethnomedicinal plant, Hugonia mystax L., was examined for preliminary phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of various classes of secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, phenols, saponins, steroids, tannins and terpenoids. Antimicrobial activity of petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanolic and aqueous fruits extracts showed significant activity against the human pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae causing brain abscesses, pneumonia and septic arthritis; Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa causing urinary tract infections and septicaemia; Salmonella typhi causing typhoid fever, Vibrio species causing diarrheal infections and the fungus Candida albicans causes urinary tract infections. The antimicrobial activity of the petroleum ether, chloroform, ethanolic and aqueous fruits extracts showed concentrationdependent activity against all the tested bacteria at various concentrations. Thus, the present findings revealed the medicinal potential of H. mystax to develop a drug against various human ailments.