Phytochemical Screening of Some Medicinal Plants in Al Jouf, KSA

Abstract

The utilization of ethnobotanical and phytochemical investigations in the discovery of novel medications is beneficial. Screening for phytochemicals is an important step in detecting the bioactive ingredients of medicinal plants which are used in conventional therapy. For the first time, 23 medicinal plants utilized in Saudi Arabian traditional therapy were examined. From August 2020 to July 2021, ethnobotanical fieldwork was conducted. There was some plant species identified, divided into pertinent families. Standard procedures were used to screen these medicinal plants for the occurrence of glycosides, alkaloids, saponins, resins, saponins, tannins, and flavonoids. Among the medicinal plants used, the most common phytochemicals were alkaloids (95.65%), glycosides (86.96%), saponin (82.61%), tannins (73.91%), flavonoids (56.52%), and resin (52.17%). The least widely distributed chemicals, on the other side, were resins. Trigonella foenum-graecum L., Pimpinella anisum L., and Cuminum cyminum L. seeds were shown to contain all six categories of secondary metabolites. The ethnographic importance of these medicinal plants is consistent with the content of secondary metabolites.