Comparative antimicrobial activities of different species of Ixora

Abstract

Leaves of different plants of Ixora genus is traditionally used as poultice for various skin conditions and in the treatment of wounds to validate the traditional uses, the leaves offour species of Ixora such as Ixora chinensis, Ixora lutea, Ixora coccinea and Ixora parviflora were investigated to evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity by agar well diffusion method against nine bacterial strains of which three are gram positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus) and six are gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter, Salmonella paratyphi, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella, Proteus and Pseudomonas). The methanol extracts of the leaves of I. chinensis, I. lutea and I. coccinea did not show any antimicrobial activity, whereas the extract of I. parviflora showed significant antimicrobial activity against Salmonella paratyphi (19 mm), Bacillus subtilis (18 mm), Salmonella typhi (16 mm)and Acinetobacter (13 mm). Gentamicin (10 µg/disc) was used as standard drug. The results of the present study find only I. parviflora effective against some organisms.