Phenetic Diversity and Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Tephrosia Pers. Spp. (Family Fabaceae) in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Tephrosia is a genus of medicinally important perennial shrubs or herbs distributed in warm temperate and tropical regions, and belongs to Family Fabaceae. The genus is represented in Sri Lanka with 10 species. The objective of the present study was to interpret interspecific relationships of Tephrosia species in Sri Lanka using phenetic and phytochemical variations. Specimens of six different Tephrosia species including T. purpurea, T. villosa, T. noctiflora, T. tinctoria, T. maxima and T. pumila were collected from their natural habitats in different climatic zones in Sri Lanka. Sixteen floral and vegetative characters of Tephrosia spp. were observed and cluster analysis was performed to interpret phenetic relationships. Herbarium specimens were prepared and voucher specimens were submitted to the National Herbarium, Peradeniya. Phenogram indicated the presence of interspecific relationship with respect to the morphological characters. Air dried leaves were subjected to sequential solvent extractions using solvents with different polarities such as hexane, chloroform and methanol. These extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening tests to detect the occurrence of carbohydrates, protein and amino acids, glycosides, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, phenolics, and phytosteroids. Phytochemical screening of the different Tephrosia spp. indicated a close relationship among the species and further isolations and purifications are needed to elucidate the chemical constituents to assess the efficacy.