Antifungal principle ofRanunculus sceleratus

Abstract

So far antibiotic substances have largely been obtained from microorganisms, most of which act as antibacterials and do not show antifungal activity. Search for antibiotics from higher plants remained neglected for a long time but during recent years a large number of plants have been found to contain antibacterial substances. Antifungal substances from higher plants are comparatively little known, but the search for them continues on an increasing scale. Several plants have been screened for their fungitoxicity (Gilliver, 1947; Basu and Bose, 1956; Abdullaeva, 1959; Petrushova and Meshechaninova, 1961; Nene and Thapliyal, 1965; Thapliyal and Nene, 1967; Dhar et al., 1968; Gupta and Banejee, 1970; Nicolls, 1970; Shekhawat and Prasad, 1971) but attempts to isolate and identify their active principle(s) are mostly wanting. The present paper records the isolation, identification, fungitoxicity, phytotoxicity and systemic activity of the antifungal active principle of Ranunculus sceleratus L. (Hindi: jaldhania; English: buttercup or water crowfoot), a widely occurring winter season herb with small, pale yellow flowers and nectaries at the base of the petals. It is also cultivated in gardens for its beautiful flowers and has been reported for its medicinal properties (Trivedi, 1965). Earlier, leaf extracts were found to possess strong fungicidal activity against several test fungi by the present authors (Misra et al., 1974; Misra, 1975; Misra and Dixit, 1976, 1977).