Antimicrobial Activity of Extracts of Herbal Plants used in the Traditional Medicine of Bahrain

Abstract

Petroleum ether, methanol, hexane, butanol and aqueous crude extracts of the whole aerial parts of Suaeda vermiculata, Prosopis farcta, Capparis spinosa and Salsola villosa exhibited variable degrees of antimicrobial activity. Extracts had low to moderate actvity against four bacterial and two fungal species compared with that exerted by antibiotics. The petroleum ether extract of S. vermiculata and the butanol extract of S. villosa had high antifungal activity against Candida albicans and Fusarium oxysporum comparable to the antifungal miconazole nitrate.