Abstract
Two Verbena species (Verbena officinalis L. and Aloysia citrodora L.) were investigated to analyze their total phenolic and flavonoids content, DPPH free radical scavenging activity, allelopathic activity and antimicrobial activity. The total phenolic content (Folin-Ciocalteu assay) was shown to be between 160 μg GAE/mg dry weight basis (V. officinalis) and 360.03 μg GAE/mg dry weight basis (A. citrodora). The total flavonoids content (aluminum chloride method) was shown that, total flavonoids content varied from 7.91 to 10.62 μg QE/g DW in V. officinalis and from 11.70 to 12.93 μg QE/g DW in A. citrodora. The antioxidant activity was determined by using a DPPH radical scavenging assay and their antimicrobial activity was determined by utilizing an agar disc diffusion assay. Methanol extracts of the two species analyzed showed high antioxidant activity and among them A. citrodora possessed the highest quantity (249.31 mM ACE/g DW). The aqueous extracts of the species were found to inhibit the germination and radicle elongation of canary grass (P. canariensis L.) and lettuce (L. sativa L.). The methanol extracts showed antibacterial activities against a number of microorganisms. These findings suggest that the aqueous and methanol extracts of the plants tested contain compounds with allelopathic and antimicrobial properties. These exhibited properties propose that such plant extracts can possibly be used as natural preservatives in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
Highlights
Verbena is a vegetal genus in the family Verbenaceae
The difference in yield was significant between extraction methods for V. officinalis and A. citrodora (Table 1)
V. officinalis had consistently a higher extraction yield compared to A. citrodora
Summary
Verbena is a vegetal genus in the family Verbenaceae. The genus Verbena contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants [1]. Phytochemical investigations of Verbena species have revealed the presence of polyphenols, flavonoids, verbascosides, triterpenoids, phenylpropanoids, caffeoyl derivatives, volatile oils, and iridoids [2,3,4]. (common verbena) is a perennial herb growing by roadsides and sunny pastures of semiarid environments throughout most of Europe and North Africa, as well as in China and Japan [4,5]. As a member of the Verbena genus, the aqueous extracts V. officinalis represent a good source of antioxidants [6], and exhibit various biological activities including sleep-promoting, diuretic, expectorant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities [7,8]
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