Antibacterial activity of some folklore medicinal plants used by tribals in Western Ghats of India

A series of 30 Indian folklore medicinal plants used by tribal healers to t reat infections, were screened for antibacterial properties at 10 mg/ml con centration by using disc diffusion method against Bacillus subtilis, Escher ichia coil, Klebsiella aerogenes, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aerogenes a nd Staphylococcus aureus. Twenty plant species showed activity against one or more species of bacteria used in this assay; among them the leaf extract s of Cassia occidentalis and Cassia auriculata exhibited significant broad spectrum activity against B. subtilis and S. aureus. Ten plant species were not found active against all tested bacteria. These results were compared with results obtained using standard antibiotics, chloramphenicol (30 mu g/ disc) and streptomycin (30 mu g/disc) which served as a reference for inhib ition zone diameter (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reser ved.