Chemodiversity and Biological Properties of Endangered Medicinal Herb Trillium govanianum along Himalayan Elevation Gradient

ABSTRACT In the present study, we aimed to characterize the chemodiversity and biological activities of the important medicinal herb Trillium govanianum Wall. ex D. Don along an elevation gradient in the Kashmir Himalaya. We employed gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS) to analyze the methanolic extract of T. govanianum for antimicrobial activities against standard reference strains of bacteria and fungi. We estimated antioxidant activity using three different radical scavenging assays: 2,2‐dihpenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and 2,2′‐azino‐bis (3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays. Our results show that the proportion of pharmaceutically important steroids significantly declined, while unsaturated fatty acids increased with increasing elevation. The antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract of T. govanianum showed a significant ( p < 0.05) decrease with an increase in elevation. Likewise, the antimicrobial activity of T. govanianum observed against bacterial and fungal strains also decreased significantly with elevation. Taken together, our findings can help in a better understanding of the dynamic relationship between chemodiversity and biological properties of this pharmaceutically prized Himalayan herb under the varying environmental conditions along elevation, with useful insights into the chemical ecology of medicinal plants in mountains.