Botanical Literature Details

• Author(s)

  Rovira, I., Berkov, A., Parkinson, A., Tavakilian, G., Mori, S. A., Meurer-Grimes, B.

• Article or Chapter Title

  Antimicrobial activity of neotropical wood and bark extracts.

• Year

  1999

• Journal or Book

  Pharmaceutical Biology 37(3): 208-215

• Notes

  A total of 203 wood and bark extracts from trees in French Guiana were tested for antimicrobial activity agaist four human pathogens. The study included 56 samples and 18 species of Lecythidaceae. Among the Lecythidaceae tested, species of Eschweilera, Gustavia, and Couratari showed notable growth inhibitory activity against both Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecilis. Three species, Couratari stellata, Eschweilera congestiflora, and E. micrantha showed antifungal activity. Variation was found in antimicrobrial activity among different individuals of the same species. In the introduction, the authors note that the macerated bark of Gustavia augusta is used by Creoles to treat small children for vomiting and by the palikur against leishmaniasis.
  
  KEYWORDS = Elaeocarpaceae, Tiliaceae, Sterculiaceae, Bomnacaceae, Lecythidaceae, Sapotaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae, Mimosaceae, Staphylococcus, Candida, Enterococcus, Escherichia, Gustavia augusta, French Guiana, , antimicrobial, bactericide, bark extracts, fungicide, wood extracts.