RESUMO
Objective: Erythrina indica belongs to the family Leguminoseae and it is a medium-sized, spiny, deciduous tree normally growing up to 6-9 m tall. It is also known as “Indian coral tree” or “Tiger’s clow” or “variegated coral tree” or “Kalyana murungai” or “ Mulmurukku” (in Tamil). It is a native of costal forest communities from East Africa, through southeast to Australia. In India, it is distributed in coast forests from Bombay to Malabar . The objective of this study is to explore the phytochemistry and the antioxidant potential of methanolic root extract of Erythrina indica which is considered traditionally as an important medicinal plant. Methods: The preliminary phytochemical analysis was done to find out the presence of various bioactive compounds. In vitro antioxidant analysis of methanolic root extract was performed by 1,1diphenyl, 2 picryl hydrazyl assay, nitric oxide assay, superoxide dismutase assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power assay. Results: The methanolic root extract showed the presence of various phytoconstituents such as flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, saponins, coumarins and carbohydrates. Besides it also possess strong antioxidant activity. Conclusions: It was concluded that Erythrina indica root possessed a wide range of pharmacologically important phytoconstituents which exhibited strong antioxidant activity.