Some endemic medicinal plants of Andamans with antimicrobial potential

Abstract

The present study was aimed to determine the antimicrobial activity of some endemic plant species used in folkloric medicine by the inhabitants of Andaman Islands, India. The ethanol extracts prepared from the leaves of four plants viz; Alstonia kurzii, Tabernaemontana crispa, Mangifera andamanica and Vitex diversifolia were assessed for antibacterial activity against clinically isolated human pathogenic bacteria and antifungal activity against some phytopathogenic fungi. The ethanol extracts showed more inhibition towards Gram positive than Gram negative bacteria and the bacterial strains showed more susceptibility than the fungal strains tested. Among the plants, Vitex diversifolia exhibited the highest antibacterial activity and Mangifera andamanica showed the highest antifungal activity.