Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Root Extracts of Argemone mexicana Linn

Argemone mexicana is an indigenous plant often called prickly poppy. It is part of the Papaveraceae family. Argemone mexicana is recognized for its medicinal advantages within traditional medicine systems. In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in researching the therapeutic properties of this plant, which is reported to exhibit antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective effects. Furthermore, the plant has been documented for additional actions such as larvicidal effects, wound healing properties, cancer-related effects, antihelmintic actions, and neuropharmacological investigations. Given these medicinal attributes, this plant can be considered a significant resource of therapeutic compounds. Phytochemicals were also identified to clarify the potential reasons behind the pharmacological effects. Extracts from the leaves were analyzed for primary phytochemicals using established methods. From the current research, we conclude that the phytochemical analysis of the Argemone mexicana Linn root extracts indicated the presence of alkaloids, phenols, sugars, terpenoids, glycosides, flavonoids, and tannins. Keywords: Argemone Mexicana, Traditional medicine, Phytochemicals, alkaloids and flavonoids.