Biochemical Studies on Some Egyptian Wild Plants

Medical and aromatic plants in Egypt have been a part of the country s natural and cultural diversity for thousands of years. Most of the landscape in Egypt is a desert, with a few scattered oases. Each geographical area has a variety of flora and fauna all adapted to its own habitat. In recent work we focused on the discovery of this area where these plants grow. The plants were investigated in terms of the chemical constituents of the active chemical groups, as well as study the effect of water and alcoholic extracts on microorganisms. This work includes five plants collected from the eastern Egyptian desert areas parallel to the Red Sea coast. These plants are, Acacia etbaica (. Fabaceae), Aerva lanata (. Amaranthaceae), Citrullus colocynthis (.Cucurbitaceae), Ochradenus baccatus (. Resedaceae.) and Olea europaea, (. Oleaceae). The phytochemical investigation of the alcoholic and water extracts of the aerial parts of the tested plants showed the different profile of their contents. A. etbaica, A. lanata, C. coloeynthis, O. baccatus and O.europaea were more or less proportional in their chemical constitution. Flavonoids were common in all of them, and alkaloids dominated them except Acacia etbaica. Saponins were detected only in Acacia and Aerva lanata. Alcohol and water extract were tested against four - (G -) bacteria, four (G +) bacteria, one yeast and one fungi. There was a variation in activities; however the water extract of some plants was the highest active. It will be better to practice an in vivo experiment to assess the results.