Morphology, Comparative Phytochemical, Chromatographic, and Fluorescence Studies of Three Acanthaceae Members
Ashwini Sirsat, Pratiksha Umale, Prem Nagrale, Bushra Anjum and Dipak Koche
Department of Botany, Shri Shivaji College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Akola (MS) 444003 India (Email: ashcoolsir09@gmail.com )
ABSTRACT
The present study provides a comparative evaluation of morphological characteristics, phytochemical composition, quantitative estimation of major secondary metabolites, and chromatographic profiling of three ethnomedicinal members of the family Acanthaceae, namely Rungia repens (L.) Nees, Hygrophila auriculata (Schumach.) Heine, and Peristrophe paniculata (Forssk.) Brummitt. Detailed morphological investigations revealed distinct diagnostic features related to growth habit, stem structure, leaf morphology, inflorescence type, floral organization, and fruit and seed characters, supporting accurate identification and taxonomic differentiation of the selected species. Preliminary phytochemical screening of leaf and stem powders using aqueous, methanolic, ethanolic, and chloroform extracts indicated the presence of diverse secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, saponins, reducing sugars, and steroids. Methanolic and ethanolic extracts exhibited a broader range of phytoconstituents compared to aqueous and chloroform extracts, highlighting their superior extraction efficiency. Quantitative analysis revealed that phenolic content was significantly higher than flavonoid content in all three species, with leaf samples consistently showing greater accumulation than stems. Among the studied plants, H. auriculata recorded the highest phenolic content, followed by R. repens and P. paniculata.