0944-7113/02/09/08-749 $ 15.00/0  Introduction Salvia moorcraftiana Wall. (Lamiaceae) is a tall roburst, perennial, 40–90 cm tall occuring in temperate Himalayas from Kashmir to Kumann (Chadha, 1972). Its seeds and roots are used as an emetic, against cough, and also for haemorroids (Bakshi et al., 1986; Nad- karani et al., 1976). The leaves are a medicine against guinea worm and itch, and in the form of poultice ap- plied to wounds, while the seeds are given in colic and dysentery, and applied to boils (Kirtikar, 1918). Considering the widespread use of S. moorcraftiana, the present study was conducted to confirm and pro- vide a scientific basis to its uses in traditional system of medicine and to explore some new pharmacological ef- fects of the plants and the chemical constituents isolat- ed from it.  Materials and Methods Plant Material The plant (aerial parts of S. moorcraftiana) was collect- ed from Mansehra (Pakistan) in the month of April 1998. A voucher herbarium specimen was deposited in the herbarium of Department of Botany, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan. Extraction and Isolation The shade-dried plant material was chopped into small pieces and then pulverized into fine powder (4.2 kg), and was soaked in acetone for three weeks. The ace- tone extract was filtered and evaporated under reduced pressures to yield a gum (220 g). The crude acetone extract was chromatographed on a silica gel (70–230 mesh) column, which was eluted with increasing order of polarities of pet. ether : chloro- form and pet. ether:acetone. Repeated column chro- matography of the fractions eluted with pet. ether : ace- tone (1:1) afforded compounds 1–8, which were identi- fied to be 5,7,4′-trihydroxyflavone (1) (Ahmad et al., 2000), 5-hydroxy-6,7,4′-trimethoxyflavone (2) (Ahmad et al., 2000), 5-hydroxy-7,4′-dimethoxyflavone (3) (Niwa et al., 1986), 5,3′-dihydroxy-6,7,4′-trimethoxy- flavone (4) (Ahmad et al., 2000), 5,3′,4′-trihydroxy-7- Phytomedicine 9: 749–752, 2002 © Urban & Fischer Verlag http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/phytomed Phytomedicine Pharmacological activities of crude acetone extract and purified constituents of Salvia moorcraftiana Wall. T. Khan 1 , M. Zahid 2 , M. Asim 2 , Shahzad-ul-Hussan 2 , Z. Iqbal 3 , M. Iqbal Choudhary 2 , and V. Uddin Ahmad 2 1 Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan 2 International Center for Chemical Sciences, HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan 3 Department of Pharmacy University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan, Pakistan Summary The crude acetone extract of aerial parts of Salvia moorcraftiana Wall. was screened for various bi- ological activities including Lemna bioassay, antifungal, antibacterial, leishmanicidal, insecticidal activities and brine shrimp cytotoxicity. It was found to possess strong phytotoxic activity against Lemna aequinoctials Welve. and moderate antifungal activity against animal and plant pathogens. The purified chemical constituents were tested for enzyme inhibition activity. Two constituents (compounds 3 and 8) were found to be effective inhibitors of α-glucosidase. Key words: Salvia moorcraftiana, phytotoxicity, antifungal activity, enzyme inhibition activity