ABSTRACT
Aims: Knowledge on the plant phytochemistry provides a fundamental use of plants as a reservoir of chemical agents. Hence, the study on the presence of Phytochemicals in the aqueous extract of 100 different plant species belonging to 44 families collected from Chennai, India was detected. Place and Duration: Plants distributed in the Chennai district of Tamil Nadu state in India were studied. The study was conducted during the period of November 2012 to January 2013. Methods: Leaves of around 100 plant species belonging to different habit like trees, shrubs, herbs and creepers or climbers from Chennai and its surround districts of India were collected. The aqueous extract of air dried, pulverized leaf samples of collected plants were examined for the presence of Tannins, Phlobatannins, Saponins, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Cardiac glycosides and Steroids using the standard techniques proposed by Evans (1996). The presence of individual secondary metabolites was calculated in percentage and their prevalence in different plant habit was studied. Results: Around 29%, 20%, 23%, 48%, 22%, 30% and 44% of plants showed the presence of Tannins, Phlobatannins, Saponins, Flavonoids, Terpenoids, Cardiac glycosides and Steroids in that order. Further, the presence of secondary metabolites according to the plant habit like, tree, shrub, herb and creeper or climber was detected. Conclusion: It was evident that the presence of Tannin, Phlobatannin, Flavonoids and Cardiac glycosides are found prevalent in trees, Steroids in herbs and Terpenoids in shrubs. However, further study on this aspect is recommended.