SUMMARY
In the exploration, association of five important less known ethno-medicinal plants (EMP) which are practiced by Tribal Medicine Men (TMM) at Biligirirangana Hill area of Chamarajanagara district, Karnataka, India were identified. The plant drugs, Andrographis serphyllifolia, Discorea hispida , Glycosmis mauritiana, Nothapodytes nimmoniana and Rauvolfia densiflora were collected during interaction and the data on TMF drug such as, part used, mode of drug preparation, dosage and duration of the treatments essentially for wound therapeutics was analytically described. The contents and amount of EMP present in the formulations were validated scientifically to ascertain the findings of pharmacognostic parameters. Further, studies on biological activities in the vein of Antimicrobial and Antioxidant activities were attempted. The antimicrobial activity was tested against standard strains such as Escherichia coli , Bacillus subtilis , Staphylococcus aureus, Kliebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aerugenosa using disc diffusion method. All the extracts have shown significant activity against tested microbes with the inhibition zones ranged 7-14mm to 15-20mm. Among various solvent extracts studied petroleum ether extract showed a highest antibacterial activity followed by ethanol, aqueous extracts of EMP and TMF. The antioxidant activity has been evaluated by DPPH radical scavenging and ABTS methods, respectively. The ethno-medicinal plants showed potent inhibition of DPPH free radicals scavenging activity, D. hispida , G. mauritiana, A. serphyllifolia are being the most potent compared to other R. densiflora and N. nimmoniana . All the EMP drugs registered significantly higher in phenolic content, individually (107.67mg GAE/g) than that of TMF (102.45 mg GAE/g). Similarly, antioxidant potential was found to be noteworthy as determined by DPPH (12.24 EC 50 g/ml) radical scavenging activity which was registered in the EMF individually. A superior ABTS radical scavenging (ranging between12.06-15.40 EC 50 g/ml), Frap assay (ranging between 8.25-21.26mol Fe 2+ /mg) and significantly higher total reduction capacity (1.28%) were realized in ethanolic extract of TMF.