Acorus calamus L., a medicinal herb occasionally planted in the home gardens, and Ardisia solanacea Roxb., a wild edible fruit plant, are frequently found in the Kuttanad wetlands of Kerala state. High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) technique was used to detect and quantify the amino acids present in the rhizome of Acorus calamus and in the leaves of Ardisia solanacea. Methanolic extracts of the test plants were subjected to HPTLC analysis where n-butanol: acetic acid:water (4:1:1) mixture was used in the mobile phase. Four amino acids, glutamic acid, L-cystine, lysine and serine were detected from A. calamus while alanine, glutamic acid and valine were detected from A. solanacea.