Comparison of the Presence of Flavonoid and Tannin in the Leaves of Four Pterocarpus Species Found in the Southeast Nigeria

In the Southeast Nigeria, four species of the genus Pterocarpus have been discovered. The four species are Pterocarpus mildbraedii, Pterocarpus osun, Pterocarpus santalinoides and Pterocarpus sayauxii. They are all trees with compound imparipinate leaves and entire leaflets. The phytochemical result of the leaves revealed the presence of flavonoid and tannins. Flavonoid was distributed as follows: Pterocarpus mildbraedii (0.6 ± 0.2), Pterocarpus osun (0.8 ± 0.2), Pterocarpus santalinoides (1.0 ± 0.3) and Pterocarpus soyauxii (nil), whereas tannin was distributed as follows: Pterocarpus mildbraedii (1.8 ± 0.8), Pterocarpus osun (4.8 ± 1.2), Pterocarpus santalinoides(20.0+ 0.3) and Pterocarpus sayauxii (24.0 ± 2.1). Flavonoid is found in trace quantities in the leaves of the four plants to compare with tannin. The highest quantity of flavonoid (1.0+ 0.3) was found in the leaves of Pterocarpus santalinoides, and the least quantity (nill) was found in the leaves of Pterocarpus soyauxii. For tannin, the highest quantity (24.0 ± 2.1) was found in the leaves of Pterocarpus sayauxii, whereas the least quantity (1.8 ± 0.8) was found in the leaves of Pterocarpus mildbraedii. This result suggests that the plants the leaves of the fur plants especially those of Pterocarpus sayauxii are good materials for the production of tannin-based drugs. The result also supports the idea of placing the four plants in one genus.