Studies on Bioactivities of Parkia javanica (Lamk.) Merr. and Evolvulus nummularius (L.) L.: Two Medicinal Plants of Tripura

Abstract

The north-east region of India is rich in plant diversity with about 43% of the total of Indian flora due to its diverse agro-climatic condition, variation of topography, altitudes and rainfalls etc. (Maiti, 2004). Out of 315 families of angiosperms in India, more than 200 are represented in northeast India and this region accounts for nearly 50% of the total number of plant species in India as a whole (Tripathi and Barik, 2003). The region is rich in medicinal plants and many other rare and endangered taxa (Chatterjee et al., 2006). Tripura, a small state of the north-eastern region of India is situated in one of the mega diversity region of the world because of her location in the sub-Himalayan area. The state is rich in biodiversity with vast resource of medicinal plants (Dev, 1983; Das et al., 2009; Roy et al., 2010). ). However, a very few systematic biological studies have been carried out to explore this vast resource of medicinal plants regarding their medicinal properties. In respect to the above mentioned scenario, the present study was taken up to carry out systematic studies, on two medicinal plants of Tripura, viz. Parkia javanica and Evolvulus nummularius, with known ethno-medicinal background. The study was designed to examine the medicinal properties of the above mentioned plants with the following specific objectives- 1. to assess the antibacterial activity 2. to assess the anti/pro-oxidative activity 3. to assess the anticancer and immunomodulatory activities 4. to assess the antileishmanial activity. The plants were selected on the basis of their ethno-medicinal uses. The tribal people of Tripura use P. javanica extract to cure stomach ache and cholera (Majumder et al., 2009). The Mizo tribals use green portion of the fruit to cure wounds and scabies and also eat fruit or young shoot for curing diarrhoea, dysentery and food poisoning (Bhardwaj and Gakhar, 2005). In Manipur, bark extract is given in diarrhoea and dysentery (Sinha, 1996).