Abstract:

C. taliera Roxb. (Family- Arecaceae, Bengali name- tali, talier, tara palm) is one of the wonder tree of the palm family. The methanol extract of the fruits of this plant as well as its n-hexane, carbon tetrachloride, dichloromethane and aqueous soluble fractions were subjected to screenings for antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. The methanolic crude extract demonstrated highest antioxidant activity having IC₅₀ 19.33 μg/ml as compared to 9.5 μg/ml for the standard agents, BHT. The crude methanol extract and its carbon tetrachloride, dichloromethane and aqueous soluble partitionates showed mild to moderate inhibition of microbial growth against some of the tested organisms, while all the extractives exhibited strong cytotoxic property among which the methanol extract revealed the strongest cytotixicity with LC₅₀ of 0.43 μg/ml. In addition, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, β-amyrin, lupeol and betulinic acid were also isolated from n-hexane fraction of the crude methanolic extract.