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Phytochemicals have great potency as therapeutic agents. There is continuous and urgent need to discover new therapeutic compounds with diverse chemical structures and novel mechanism of action because there has been an alarming increase in the incidence of new and re-emerging infectious diseases. Hence, the present investigation was carried out to assess the phytoconstituents of leaf extracts of four different medicinal plants viz. Acorus calamus, Senna alata, Solanum torvum and Solanum trilobatum. The leaves of four plants were collected from their wild habitats, washed, air dried and then powdered. The solvent extracts of the respective leaves were prepared using Soxhlet apparatus with acetone, ethanol and petroleum ether. The extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical analyses as per standard procedures. The results showed that alkaloids were present in all the four plants analyzed and all the three solvents extracted. Meanwhile, carbohydrates and proteins were absent in the same. It was also indicated that the ethanol extract of Solanum trilobatum leaf showed the presence of 7 compounds among 9 phytochemicals analyzed. The result of this study is encouraging further quantitative estimation and the need for clinical studies to determine the potential effectiveness of particular phytochemical in vivo. Keywords: Preliminary phytochemical analyses, Acorus calamus, Senna alata, Solanum torvum and Solanum trilobatum.

The extracellular ligninolytic enzymes of white-rot fungi are thought to catalyse the initial steps during the degradation of highly complex compounds like lignin or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We studied the ability of Pleurotus florida isolated from the foothills of the Western Ghats, India to decolourize the three dyestuffs, Reactive Green, Yellow and Blue, which are widely used in the textile industry around Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. The crude culture filtrate of Pleurotus florida when incubated with different concentrations of dye decolourized it efficiently on the third day. The highest colour removal was found in the case of Reactive Blue. However, when Agaricus bisporus extract was supplemented with Pleurotus florida filtrate, the efficiency increased. The dye decolourization was advanced to the second day and the efficiency of dye decolourization of Reactive Yellow was 89% followed by Reactive Green, which was 45% when a dye concentration of 0.5% was used. Pleurotus florida filtrate alone and in combination with Agaricus bisporus extract reduced the aromatic compounds in textile and paper industry effluents on the first day with >90% efficiency.

A B S T R A C TThe laccase producing fungi Lentines edodes was screened for laccase production using various indicator compounds like guaiacol, tannic acid and the polymeric dyes such as Remazol brilliant blue R and Poly R-478. The organism Lentines edodes that produce laccase was cultivated on basal medium. Potato dextrose agar medium (PDA) and malt extract agar medium (MEA) were used for the first subculture of chosen isolate and the plates were examined by light microscopy to check the absence of bacteria and the unique fungi isolation. For testing the crude enzyme laccase activity an agar plug (1 cm 2 ) from a 7-day old Lentines edodes agar plate was transferred to 50 ml of potato dextrose broth in Erlenmeyer flasks. The cultures were maintained at 25°C for 7 days. Screening was performed in Petri dishes (60 mm diameter) with 15 ml of malt extract agar (MEA) medium and potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium from Hi media, Mumbai, India, containing indicator compounds such as 0.04% (w/v) of Remazol Brilliant Blue-R (RBBR) and Poly R-478, 0.01% (v/v) of guaiacol and tannic acid 0.05% (w/v). Guaiacol (Sigma) RBBR (Sigma) and Poly R-478 (Sigma) were added to the media after autoclaving as sterile-filtered solutions. Tannic acid (Merck Chemicals Ltd., UK) was autoclaved separately before addition to the media. Guaiacol is a sensitive substrate that allows a rapid screening of fungal strains producing extracellular guaiacol oxidizing enzymes by means of a colour reaction. The white-rot fungus Trametes hirsuta that produces laccase, manganese peroxidase and lignin peroxidase was used as a positive control. The identity of laccase producing fungal species was confirmed by brown color development surrounding the fungal growth. Any colony produce yellow or which causes decolourization of Poly R-478 was considered as ligninolytic positive and isolated. Decolourization of Poly R 478, RBBR, guaiacol and tannic acid oxidizing strains were also studied on liquid cultures for lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase and laccase activities. For laccase activity, the isolated fungi was grown at 25°C for 12 days with rotary shaking (150 rpm) in 500-ml baffled Erlenmeyer flasks containing 50 ml of potato dextrose broth. The crude extract of Lentines edodes revealed promising results on decolourization of various dye stuffs, paper and textile effluents. About 74.1% of reactive yellow, 77.5% reactive blue and 75% RBBR dye stuffs were effectively decolorized on the third day. Similarly, more than 90% of textile and paper effluents were decolorized on first day itself.

Poisonous bites are serious problems in tropical countries like India. Both the tribal and non-tribal people prefer herbal treatment for poisonous bites. In this manner, an ethnomedicinal investigation was carried out to explore the plants used to treat poisonous bites in Thiruppuvanam region of Sivagangai district. By this research work, a total of 16 medicinal remedies prepared from 16 species of angiosperms belonging to 15 genera comes under 13 families are in medicinal utility for the treatment of poisonous bites. It was documented that, 9 plants were used for the treatment of snake bite, 3 plants for the treatment of scorpion sting, 2 for all type of bites, 1 for dog bite, insect bite and rat bite. Among the 16 species recorded, dicots were represented with 11 species belonging to 10 genera of 9 families and monocots were 5 species of 5 genera belonging to 4 families. Aristolochiaceae, Lamiaceae and Liliaceae were found as dominant families with 2 species each (12.5%) and 10 families were noted with single species (each of 6.25%). Regarding the habits of medicinal plants, 8 species cited were herbs. It was also observed that leaves were mostly used plant part (43.75%) to treat poisonous bites. The medicinal preparation was mostly used in the form of extract (62.5%) and the administration of the medicine prepared was mainly taken as drink (64.70%). Musa paradisiaca (UV of 0.85 with 17 use-reports) was the most frequently and popularly used medicinal plant species in the study area. It is necessary to perform phytochemical or pharmacological studies on these traditionally used plants used for medicinal purposes to ascertain their therapeutic efficiencies. Keywords: Ethnobotanical indices, Medicinal plants, Poisonous bites, Thiruppuvanam region, Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu.