Proximate analysis and phytochemical screening of some medicinal plants commonly used by guaris of fct, Nigeria

An ethnobotanical survey of five medicinal plants commonly used by the Gwaris of FCT was carried out in October, 2012. The plants include Detarium microcarpum, Prosopis africana, Piliostigma thonnigii, Flueggea virosa and Entada Africana. These plants are used by this group of people to cure different ailments such as malaria fever, jaundice, diarrhea, earache, dysentery, stomach ache etc. Phytochemical test and proximate analysis were carried out on the medicinal plants. The qualitative phytochemical analysis shows the presence of glycosides, alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, steroids, saponins, terpenoids, phenols and resins. N-hexane tends to extract more metabolites than the other solvents (methanol and water). Aqueous extracts contain lesser metabolites. Entada africana extracts contain more metabolites than any of the other plants. From the proximate analysis, Flueggea virosa had the highest moisture content and crude proteins while Detarium microcarpum had the lowest. Entada africanus had the highest ash content; D. microcarpum had highest crude lipids while F. virosa had the lowest. Piliostigma thonnigii had the highest crude fibre while Detarium and Prosopis had the highest carbohydrate content. The statistical analysis of the proximate composition of these plants showed that there is a significant difference in the nutritive constituents of the leaves of the five plants (p-value at 0.05 sig. level). The results of both analyses showed that these plants are of high medicinal value and nutritionally, they compare favourably with most popularly consumed vegetables based on their moisture content, ash content, crude lipid, crude fibre, crude protein and carbohydrate.