Abstract
Saraca asoca (Roxb.) De Wilde. is an endangered medicinal tree that has immense medicinal importance. Six accessions of S. asoca were analyzed for phytochemicals to identify the accessions with the highest content of medicinal compounds and to characterize two pharmaceutically important compounds. The chloroform and ethanol extracts of bark and the ethanol and chloroform extracts of flowers of the accessions were qualitatively tested for secondary metabolites. Total phenolics and flavonoids were also estimated to select the accessions with the highest content, which was further investigated by a sensitive and reliable high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the pharmacologically important quercetin and catechin. The accession, Sa-O, identified based on the results of phytochemical analysis incidentally is the fifty-year-old ornamental tree on the University campus, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.