& Context East Indian sandalwood (Santalum album L.) in commercial markets is highly prone to adulteration. A number of cases were registered with regard to the adulteration of East Indian sandalwood, but the lack of technical tools for the precise species identification of the source wood stalled most of the court cases. & Aims The standard DNA barcode regions, the rbcL, matK and trnH-psbA chloroplast genomic sequences recommended by the Consortium of Barcode of Life (COBOL) were analysed to distinguish wood adulterants of East Indian sandalwood. & Methods Standard polymerase chain reactions with COBOL recommended primers were performed for all three barcode loci. The PCR products after gel elution were sequenced and alignments were performed using CLUSTALX. & Results Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified with rbcL and trnH -psbA sequences of Erythroxylum monogynum Roxb. as well as with matK sequences of Osyris wightiana Wall ex. Wight could be efficiently utilized for the detection/monitoring of East Indian sandalwood adulterants. Among the two common adulterants O. wightiana and E. monogynum , the former was more similar to S. album and grouped together in the dendrogram. & Conclusion The study recommends the exploitation of DNA barcoding technique using standard barcodes to trace sandalwood timber adulterants.

The study was carried out on antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activity of Syzygium benthamianum leaf extract. Chemical compositions of the leaf were analysed using GC/MS technique. A total of 24 compounds were identified among which 4-(4-ethylcyclohexyl)-1-pentyl-Cyclohexene (24.07 %) and Linoleic acid (15.16 %) are the major constituents. Antimicrobial activity of the leaf was observed on six bacterial and three fungal species, whose MIC values ranged from 100 to 500 μg/ml. At higher concentration, the extract exhibits higher scavenging activity (94.7 %) that was comparable with standard BHT. It was also observed that the leaf sample were able to effectively inhibit the growth of Hep 2 cells.

The Syzygium calophyllifolium is a large evergreen tree growing in higher altitude in Southern Western Ghats, India. The ethyl acetate extract of leaves contain higher proportions of sesquiterpenoids and triterpenoid compounds that showed effective antimicrobial screening against some of bacterial and fungal strains. The extract showed maximum inhibition zones against Enterococcus faecalis and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. The extract also showed notable antioxidant activity and at higher concentration scavenged 81.45 % of free radicals. A potent cytotoxicity has been exhibited by the extract, showing increased activity with increasing concentration. The study suggests that leaves of Syzygium calophyllifolium may be a prominent source of several medicinally important natural compounds.

Oberonia swaminathanii, a new species of Orchidaceae from Wayanad district, Kerala, India is described and illustrated. The new species resembles Oberonia balakrishnanii, O. chandrasekharanii and O. seidenfadeniana by its 3‐lobed labellum and 2‐lobuled midlobe; but differs in having brick‐red coloured flowers, triangular labellum disc, and a subglobose column.