Keywords: Cinnamomum alexei; New record; India.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjpt.v18i2.9306Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 18(2): 199-201, 2011 (December)

This study was carried out to investigate the antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity of methanolic extract of Madhuca indica bark in varios systems. DPPH radical, superoxide anion radical, nitric oxide radical, hydroxyl radical, lipid peroxidation, and total phenolic content assays were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of the extract. The percentage inhibition of 40 μg/ml concentration of MMI in DPPH radical scavenging model was found as 74.1%. The scavenging of nitric oxide by the plant extract was concentration dependent and IC50 value of rutin was found to be 161.7 μg/ml. MMI elicited significant and concentration-dependent superoxide radical scavenging effect with MMI as well as standard curcumin, which exhibited IC50 values of 38.1 and 5.84 μg/ml, respectively. MMI demonstrated significant scavenging activity of OH- radical generated from Fe2+-ascorbate-EDTA-H2O2 in a concentration-dependent manner. The extract showed a significant dose-dependent free radical scavenging activity in all the models. The extract showed the presence of high phenolic content corresponding to 98.48 μg equivalent of gallic acid and the antioxidant activity could be attributed to this.

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Memecylon ponmudianum, a new species of Melastomataceae from Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, India, is described and illustrated. The new species resembles M. terminale and M. subramanii but differs from the former by its larger and sessile leaves with cordate and amplexicaul leaf bases, robust and shortly peduncled inflorescences, pedicels distinctly shorter than the campanulate calyx, and from the latter by the terete stem and branchlets, smaller subsessile and amplexicaul leaves, terminal short peduncled umbellate cymes with terete peduncle and the pedicels distinctly shorter than calyx. A key to the Memecylon species with cordate leaf bases occurring in south India and Sri Lanka is also presented.

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