Abstract:

This paper dwelled on a plant Piliostigma thonningii with reference voucher FNS/0013/ibbu/ 018. The young and matured leaves of Piliostigma thonningii were used in ethno-medicine for the treatment of wounds, ulcers, and gingivitis by some communities in Agaie, Lapai and Bida LGA of Niger State, Nigeria separately. There is no reported scientific register that implicate the equivocal chemical constituent of the leaves. Against this backdrop the young and matured leaves were investigated for chemical constituents, antimicrobial activity and mineral composition. The leaves of the plant were subjected to solvent extraction for ethanolic and aqueous extracts. Both extracts were then subjected to preliminary Phytochemical screening and it was found that the young and matured leaves of the plant both contained alkaloids, flavonoids, Saponins, tannins, Terpenoids, Steroidal nucleus and cardiac glycoside and the absence of Anthraquinone. The matured leave was richer in chemical content than the young leaves. The antimicrobial activity of ethanol and aqueous extracts were studied using isolates of three pathogenic microorganisms and the extracts exhibited activities against two of the three microorganisms with zone of inhibition ranging from 11- 40mm. Estimation of Na, Ca, P, and K were carried out by flame photometer and the mineral assessment result revealed that Na, Ca, P, and K were present in the concentration 240, 82, 39, 11 and 30, 78, 10, 18ppm for matured and young leaves respectively. This clearly indicated that the matured leaves are richer in mineral content than the young leaves except for the potassium (K) content as against the assertion by the local traditional healers.