Abstract

Guiera senegalensis is a shrub found in the savannah region of west and central Africa that is widely used in traditional medicine for the remedy of many ailments/diseases. In this study, some of the phytochemicals and elements present in its leaves were quantified. Alkaloids content was found to be 21.98 g/100 g, saponins 0.28 g/100 g and tannins 0.40 g/100 g. The results showed that alkaloids content is high while saponins and tannins contents are low. The results of the elemental analysis showed that the values of all the elements analyzed compares favorably with values obtained for other plants and thus indicated that G. senegalensis leaf contain significant amount of essential mineral elements. Their quantity is in the order Ca > K > P > Na > Mg > Fe > Zn > Cu. The results of this study has justified the widespread usage of G. senegalensis leaves as medicine traditionally and also showed that the plant has a lot of potentials in traditional and orthodox medicine.

Key words: Guiera senegalensis, phytochemicals, elements, quantitative analysis.