The members of Euphorbiaceae are cosmopolitan comprises about 8000 known species belonging to 340 genera with an array of growth from including herbs, shrubs, trees, geophytes and multiple succulent forms. The present study was carried out on the evaluation of preliminary phytochemical and antibacterial activity o f ethanolic extracts of Euphorbiaceae members such as Euphorbia milii, Euphorbia hirta, Euphoria pulcherrima, Euphorbia tithymaloides, Euphorbia prostrata and Emblica officinalis against human pathogens in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The plant materials were collected from different places of Dehradun, Uttarakhand, dried at room temperature for the crude drug extraction by using ethanol. Phytochemical screening of these extracts showed the presences of number of secondary metabolites like alkaloids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, proteins and phenolic compounds while absence of amino acids, glycosides and saponins. Different extracts of the plants were assayed for antibacterial activity against the pathogenic bacterial strains. Out of six plant extracts only two plants such as Emblica officinalis and Euphorbia milii were showing maximum activity against all the bacterial strains. Therefore, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of these two plant extracts were determined against the pathogenic bacterial strains showing zone of inhibition ≥ 10mm.The presence of secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, proteins and phenolic compounds in all the selected plant extracts and MIC of Emblica officinalis and Euphorbia milii possess good antibacterial activity. Thus, in future the plant extracts could be exploited to control various bacterial infections such as urinary track infection, food poisoning, skin diseases etc.
