The use of phytochemical composition of fifty (50) selected plants found in the university botanic garden, Maseno, Kenya to show

Abstract

Qualitative phytochemical analysis of 50 plants, five each from 10 selected families is presented. The ten plant families were selected based on their high plant frequency of occurrence within the botanic garden. The powdered crude samples of the leaves of the fifty plants were subjected to phytochemical analysis using standard experimental procedures. The ethanoic leaf extracts from the plants were tested for the presence of six phytochemicals. From the research, it is evident that saponins are the most abundant phytochemicals among the plants leaf extracts. They account for 32.43 %, followed by alkaloids (27.03 %) then flavanoids (14.86 %), steroids (12 .16%), terpenes (10.81%) and anthraquinones (2.70 %) respectively. PRM3 statistical programmes was used to analyse the phytochemical data, and ANOVA at P≤0.05 revealed that plant families Poaceae, Solanaceae and Rutaceae all have phytochemical composition mean of 60.0, indicating that the families are closely related. Apocynaceae, Asteraceae and Malvaceae families had phytochemical composition mean of 53.5, 50.3 and 50.2 respectively.The three means do not significantly differ, indicating the three families are related. Lamiaceae, Fabaceae and Acanthaceae had phytochemical composition mean of 46.8, 43.5 and 40.2 respectively. The means of these three plant families do not significantly differ, indicating that the three plant families are also related. The Araceae family had a mean of 30.7 which differs from all the other means, indicating that this family, based on its phytochemical composition, is not closely related to any of the nine plant families.