Abstract
Medicinal plants, whose organs contain substances that can be used for therapeutic purposes or which are precursors for the synthesis of useful drugs, have been used in healthcare since time immemorial. The study specifically aimed at collecting and identifying plant species least commonly utilised as medicine and screening these plants for the presence of secondary metabolites. This descriptive research utilised the purposive sampling technique. The data was gathered using a semi-structured interview guide to ascertain the residents’ knowledge of medicinal plants. The leaves of the medicinal plants were extracted manually using a plant juicer to get the crude extract, which was then subjected to phytochemical screening for the presence of secondary metabolites, using different standard procedures. Results show a total of 44 plant species with medicinal applications, and these belonged to 24 plant families. Among these species, it was found that the five least commonly used medicinal plants were Coleus blumei Benth.; Citrus reticulata Blanco; Ocimum tenuiflorum L.; Piper betle Linn.; and Sansevieria trifasciata Prain. Phytochemical analyses of these plants confirm the presence of anthraquinones, saponins, steroids, sterols, tannins, terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, and phenolic compounds, although not all species characterised contain all these metabolites. The presence of these metabolites could possibly be the reason why these plants are effective as alternative medicines. Coleus blumei (L) Benth. possessed the greatest number of secondary metabolites, with only alkaloids absent from the tested extract. Likewise, these results imply that residents of the municipality of Mapanas, Northern Samar, Philippines, have a wealth of indigenous knowledge about plant species that possess medicinal attributes, utilising them as alternatives to expensive commercial drugs. It is therefore recommended that further chemical screening of these plants to characterise the active components or functional groups of these secondary metabolites through the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy technique be done as a basis for drug discovery or development.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
A total of 44 plant species with medicinal applications were recorded.
Verbatim
t0“Medicinal Plants Used as Alternative Medicines”
e1“Results show a total of 44 plant species with medicinal applications, and these belonged to 24 plant families”
Claim · model-written summary
The 44 medicinal plant species belonged to 24 plant families.
Verbatim
t0“Medicinal Plants Used as Alternative Medicines”
e1“Results show a total of 44 plant species with medicinal applications, and these belonged to 24 plant families”
Claim · model-written summary
Phytochemical screening confirmed anthraquinones, saponins, steroids, sterols, tannins, terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids and phenolic compounds in the plants, but not all species contained all of them.
Verbatim
t0“Medicinal Plants Used as Alternative Medicines”
e3“Phytochemical analyses of these plants confirm the presence of anthraquinones, saponins, steroids, sterols, tannins, terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, and phenolic compounds, although not all species characterised contain all these metabolites”
Claim · model-written summary
Coleus blumei (L) Benth. had the greatest number of secondary metabolites, with only alkaloids absent from its extract.
- Taxon
- Coleus blumei (L) Benth.
Coleus scutellarioidese4 - Outcome
- number of secondary metabolitese4
- Direction
- greateste4
- Qualifier
- only alkaloids absent from the tested extracte4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“Coleus blumei (L) Benth. possessed the greatest number of secondary metabolites, with only alkaloids absent from the tested extract”
Claim · model-written summary
Residents of Mapanas have a wealth of indigenous knowledge about plant species with medicinal attributes.
Verbatim
e5“residents of the municipality of Mapanas, Northern Samar, Philippines, have a wealth of indigenous knowledge about plant species that possess medicinal attributes”
Claim · model-written summary
Further chemical screening of these plants by FTIR spectroscopy is recommended to characterise active components.
Verbatim
e6“It is therefore recommended that further chemical screening of these plants to characterise the active components or functional groups of these secondary metabolites through the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy technique be done”