A Phytochemical Screening of Canavalia Gladiata (Sword Bean): A Comprehensive Pharmacognostic and Phytochemical Study

The Sword Bean, or Canavalia Gladiata (Jacq.) DC., is a well-known perennial legume in the Fabaceae family that is valued throughout Eastern Asia as an essential food and medicinal ingredient. One The plant has significant ethnobotanical value and is referred to as Dao Dou in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The results of phytochemical screening consistently show a high concentration of polar secondary metabolites, which are especially concentrated in the seed extracts of methanol and ethyl acetate. Phenolic chemicals, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, and several glycosides (including cardiac glycosides) are among the main components that have been described. Importantly, the seeds also contain canavanine, a potentially harmful antinutritional substance that is a non-protein amino acid.