PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL SCREENING OF SPHAERANTHUS INDICUS LINN. FOR ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

摘要

Sphaeranthus indicus Linn (Asteraceae) is a common annual spreading herb found in rice field throughout India. Six crude extracts were prepared from the whole plant Sphaeranthus indicus using different solvents by cold maceration process. The extracts were subjected to screening to detect potential antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, B. substillus, P. Gentamycin and Nystatin as standard by cup plate agar diffusion method. The aim of our present study was to find out the antimicrobial activity of the different extracts of entire part including flower heads of Sphaeranthus indicus. The different extracts such as hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methanol and aqueous extract exhibits comparable antimicrobial activity with the standard.