Qualitative and Quantitative Phytochemical Screening of Some Species of Lamiaceae in Rivers State, Nigeria

This research work was carried out to qualitatively and quantitatively screen the phytochemicals present in some species of Lamiaceae used for ethno medicine in Rivers State, Nigeria. The plants studied were Ocimum canum Sim (curryleaf), Mentha x piperita Linn. (peppermint) and Ocimum gratissimum Linn. (scent leaf). The Lamiaceae family can also be referred to as the mint family. Dicotyledonous are very significant as ethnobotanical plant in Nigeria. Qualitative and quantitative screening of phytochemicals was done using standard and current methodologies. The extract of the plant species studied were screened for the presence of Alkaloid, Tannin, Flavonoid, Saponin and Phenol. The result for qualitative screening revealed that there was presence of phytochemicals in both the ethanolic and aqueous extract through their color changes for each of the plant species under study. The quantitative screening highly revealed that Mentha x piperita has the highest quantity of Alkaloid (4.82 ± 0.02%) and Saponin (3.8 ± 0.01%), however scent leaf has the highest quantity of tannin (2.82 ± 0.01%) and phenol (2.14 ± 0.01%) while curry leaf had the highest quantity of flavonoid (4.2 ± 0.01%). The presence of these phytochemicals has thrown more light on why these plants are medically useful to man. Further studies should be carried out in order to isolate and identify the type of alkaloid, tannin, flavonoid, saponin and phenol and their usefulness as pharmaceutical raw materials in the production of drugs.

Keywords: Phytochemicals, Ocimum gratissimum, Ocimum canum, Mentha x piperita, Ethanolic plant extract, Aqueous extract.