Medicinal plants contain numerous bioactive phytochemicals or bionutrients. Various studies carried out during the past 2– 3 decades on these phytochemicals reveal their important role in preventing chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and coronary heart disease. The major classes of phytochemicals with disease-preventing functions are dietary fibre, antioxidants, anticancer, detoxifying agents, immunity-potentiating agents and neuropharmacological agents. Each class of these useful agents consists of a wide range of chemicals with immense potential. Some of these have more than one function. In the present work the sulphorhodamine B (SRB) assays of Shorea robusta oleoresin, the triterpenes amyrenol isolated from its defatted portion and Wrightia tinctoria bark ethanol extract were carried out. Amyrenol showed the best highest activity and lowest IC50 value (37.56, 11.61 and 61.14 µg/mL) with cervical cell lines while the other extracts also registered fairly good activity. Amyrenol merits further evaluation as an anticancer agent