Screening for antifungal activity of nineteen Latin American plants

Abstract

Dichloromethane and methanol extracts of 19 Latin American plants, most of them selected on the basis of traditional medicine reports, were subjected to screening for antifungal activity, using the agar disk diffusion assay against several fungi. Of the extracts tested, those of Andira inermis, Andira surinamensis, Bixa orellana, Blepharocalyx tweediei, Croton zehtneri, Gallesia integrifolia, Hedyosmum anisodorum, Heterotheca inuloides, Hura crepitans, Mansoa alliacea, Ocimum micranthum, Persea laevigata, Piper elongatum, Piper fulvescens, Polygonum hydropiperoides and Potalia amara exhibited some level of activity. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.