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Senna alata is a medicinal herb of Leguminosae family. It is distributed in the tropical and humid regions. e plant is traditionally used in the treatment of typhoid, diabetes, malaria, asthma, ringworms, tinea infections, scabies, blotch, herpes, and eczema. e review is aimed at unveiling the ethnobotanical description and pharmacological activities of S. alata. Different parts of the plant are reported in folk medicine as therapeutic substances for remediation of diverse diseases and infections. e extracts and isolated compounds displayed pronounced pharmacological activities. Display of antibacterial, antioxidant, antifungal, dermatophytic, anticancer, hepatoprotective, antilipogenic, anticonvulsant, antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, antimalarial, anthelmintic, and antiviral activities could be due to the array of secondary metabolites such as tannins, , and volatile oils present in different parts of the plant. e review divulges the ethnobotanical and pharmacological activities of the plant and also justifies the ethnomedical claims. e significant medicinal value of this plant necessitates a scientific adventure into the bioactive metabolites which constitute various extracts.

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Senna alata (L.) Roxb. (Fabales: Fabaceae) is a medicinal plant basically used as antifungal and sometimes as antibacterial. Local people believe it is the amount of the plant consumed that constitutes to its potency, other believe it is the incantation thereby disregarding the bioactive components present in the leaf of S. alata. Therefore, there is a need to examine this claim by examining the bioactive components that are present in the plant. The methanolic and ethanolic extracts were obtained using soxhlet apparatus and the concentrated extracts were purified using column chromatography; the fractions were eluted and screened for their phytochemical and the mass spectroscopic analysis was performed using a mass spectrophotometer. The antimicrobial activity was carried out using agar disc diffusion method. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of important secondary metabolites such as anthraquinone, flavonoid and saponins while steroids was absent in the leaf extracts. The molecular ions of 250, 250, and 222 were obtained from the mass spectra. This showed the presence of methaqualone, cinnamic acid and isoquinoline. Ethanolic extracts showed a higher antimicrobial activity when compared with the methanolic extracts but less activity when compared with the standard used (amoxicillin). It could be concluded that the presence of these phytochemicals could be responsible for the observed antifungal and antibacterial activities on the susceptible organisms studied of the plant and also can be a natural source of antimicrobial substances of high importance.