Nature has bestowed upon us plenty of herbs and plants, which are a source of medicines involved in maintaining human health. The word “herbs” comes from the Latin ‘herba’. It means a medicinal plant. India has a rich cultural heritage of traditional medicines which chiefly comprised of a flourishing system of medicines like Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani. It is considered not just as an ethnomedicine but also as a complete medical system that includes the physical, psychological, ethical, and spiritual well-being of man kind. Compounds extracted from different parts of the plants can be used in the treatment of diarrhoea, dysentery, cough, cold, fever, bronchitis, and cholera these can be derived from any part of the plant, like leaves, flowers, bark, roots, fruits, and seeds. According to the activity in plant metabolism, phytochemicals are grouped into primary and secondary metabolites. Primary metabolites such as sugars, amino acids, proteins, and chlorophyll are found in all plants while secondary metabolites comprise alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, and phenolic compounds. The present research evaluates to screen for preliminary phytochemicals of secondary metabolites in Costus pictus leaf extracts.To evaluate the antimicrobial activity by using microorganisms such as S. aureus, E. coli, S. typhi, and B. subtilis,and the antioxidant activity using the DPPH method of radical scavenging activity of the leaves extract.
