Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Araucaria cookii and Brassaia actinophyla

Araucaria cookie is an ornamental plant, which are evergreen conifer found in India and in many other European countries. Similarly Brassaia actinophylla is also an ornamental plant with its native from Java, Australia and in the US. Though these plants are used for various purposes, the medicinal properties of the plants were not investigated. In this study, the two ornamental plants were chosen for screening both antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The leaves of the plants were used for preparing crude extract and was prepared by Soxhlet extraction method. For the extraction of the leave extracts, different solvents viz, methanol, chloroform and petroleum ether were used based on the preliminary data. The obtained extracts were condensed and stored. The phytochemical analysis assists in the study of the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity as to the probable compounds responsible for the activity. The result thus obtained provides a report of Brassaia actinophylla as a possible source of antioxidants, and also the use of both extracts as a probable antimicrobial agent.