RESUMO
The world is culturally endowed with various forms of healing practices having rich medical wisdom of immense importance. One of such pharmacognostically indispensable medicinal plant is Embelia tsjeriam-cottam A. DC. The active principle of E. tsjeriam-cottam is embelin, possessing a range of pharmacognostic activities including anti-cancer, antioxidant, antiinflammation, antibacterial and analgesic effects. Embelin in fruits of E tsjeriam-cottam was extracted using water bath method. For extraction of embelin from fruits of E. tsjeriamcottam, methanol and chloroform were used as solvents. Fruits were collected from five different agro-climatic zones of Odisha. Comparative estimation of embelin was done through spectrophotometer and High Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) methods. Samples extracted with chloroform and methanol showed embelin content in a range of 2.13- 0.29% dry wt., and 0.95-0.28% dry wt. respectively using spectrophotometer. In case of HPLC analysis, samples extracted in chloroform and methanol showed embelin content in a range of 1.86-0.27% dry wt., and 0.875-0.26% dry wt. respectively. However the water bath method, used as alternative method for extraction, proved to be less time consuming, costeffective in extracting a pretty good amount of embelin as compared to the conventional (soxhlet) methods of extraction.