~ 33 ~ International Journal of Pharmacognosy and Life Science 2020; 1(1): 33-37 E-ISSN: 2707-2835 P-ISSN: 2707-2827 IJPLS 2020; 1(1): 33-37 Received: 17-05-2020 Accepted: 21-06-2020 Olubunmi J Sharaibi Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria Rakesh Kumar Joshi Department of Education, Government of Uttarakhand, Uttarakhand, India Olubunmi S Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria Makinde Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria Omoteso K Oluwa Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria Corresponding Author: Olubunmi J Sharaibi Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria Phytochemical constituents and free radical scavenging activity of fresh and dried samples of Curculigo pilosa (Schum. & Thonn.) Engl. (Hypoxidaceae) Olubunmi J Sharaibi, Rakesh Kumar Joshi, Olubunmi S, Makinde and Omoteso K Oluwa DOI: https://doi.org/10.33545/27072827.2020.v1.i2a.16 Abstract Curculigo pilosa (Schum. & Thonn) Engl. is a tropical African flowering plant belonging to the family Hypoxidaceae. It is a highly valued medicinal plant used in traditional medicine to treat constipation, impotence, limb limpness, arthritis, knee joints, and watery diarrhea. It is also used as a potent immunomodulator and aphrodisiac. The aim of this study is to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and free radical scavenging activity of the fresh and dried samples of C. pilosa. Fresh plant samples were purchased from herbal market at Iyana-Iba market in Ojo local government area. Some of the samples were oven dried at 30 o C to get the dried sample. Phytochemical analysis was carried out using standard laboratory procedures while ferric reducing power, nitric oxide and DPPH scavenging assays were used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the samples. Both dried and fresh samples contained phenols, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids and cardiac glycosides. Tannins was present in the extracts except the aqueous extract of the dried sample while terpenoids was present only in the acetone extract of the fresh and dried sample but absent in the aqueous extract of both samples. Fresh sample contained the highest amount of phytochemicals in both extracts. The amount of phenols in aqueous and acetone extracts of the fresh sample was 68.51 mg g-1 and 80.94 mg g-1 respectively. Fresh samples exhibited higher scavenging activity than the dried sample. Fresh sample of C. pilosa contained more phytochemicals and exhibited higher free radical scavenging activity than the dried sample. Keywords: Curculigo pilosa, medicinal plants, phytochemicals, free scavenging activity, fresh sample, dried sample Introduction Curculigo pilosa (Schum. & Thonn.) Engl. is a tropical African flowering plant belonging to the family Hypoxidaceae. It is one of the members of genus Curculigo which includes C. orchioides Gaertn, C. capitulata (Lour) O. Ktze and C. pilosa (Schumach. & Thonn.) Engl. C. pilosa is an herbaceous plant with stout, erect rhizomes bearing a cluster of grass-like leaves to 60 cm long and flower shoots to 20 cm. It is widely distributed from Senegal to W Cameroons and Madagascar [1] . It is very important in traditional medicine and is used for the treatment of impotence, limb limpness, arthritis, knee joints, and watery diarrhea. It is a potent immunomodulator and aphrodisiac in the Ayurvedic medical system and is also used for the treatment of hemorrhoids, asthma, jaundice, colic and gonorrhea in traditional Chinese and India medicine [2] . C. pilosa was reported to be used in the management of obesity in Southwestern Nigeria [3] . In Northern Nigeria, it is used as purgative [4-5] . In Congo (Brazzaville) as a remedy for hernia [6] and In Central African Republic the root reduced to a pulp is applied topically to swellings held to be of fetish origin by porcupines [6] . The foliage is said to be eaten by herbivorous animals in Sudan [7] . The presence of high amylolytic activity in the extracts of C. pilosa is responsible for its traditional use in the preparation of easily digestible infant food and in the traditional method for the preparation of sorghum beer [8] . C. pilosa had been reported to possess antimicrobial [9] anti-candida [10] and antioxidant activities [11] . C. pilosa was reported to contain two benzylbenzoate diglucosides; piloside A and piloside B. It was also reported that norlignan, pilosidine, nyasicoside,