Antibacterial and antifungal effects of alcoholic extracts of 41 medicinal plants growing in Turkey

Abstract

The antibacterial and antifungal activities of crude ethanolic extracts of 41 traditional medicinal plant species belonging to 26 families were tested against four bacteria and two fungi: Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger. Of the 41 plants tested, 39 showed antimicrobial activity against one or more species of microorganisms. While the crude extracts from Nigellea arvensis did not show antimicrobial activity against the test microorganisms, Pistasia lentiscus showed only antifungal activity against A. niger. The most active antimicrobial plants were Cuminum cyminum, Jasminium officinale, Thymus capitatus, Viscum album, Tanecetum sorbifolium, Pimpinella anisum, Galega officinalis, Liguidamber orientalis, Rhus coriaria, Alnus glutinosa, Pimental officinalis, Achillea coarctata, and Cameli sinensis.

Keywords

• antimicrobial activity
• medicinal plants
• bacillus subtilis
• staphylococcus aureus
• escherichia coli
• pseudomonas aeruginosa
• candida albicans
• aspergillus niger