Antibacterial Activity of Green Leafy Vegetables and Medicinal Plants

The therapeutic effect of plants are witnessed by the emergence of diseases and the growth of scientific knowledge about herbal medicines as a promising alternatives or complementary treatment of several health issues of human beings. This book contains the research output of antibacterial activity and the phytochemical screening of some selected locally available Green leafy vegetables in Sri Lanka namely: Manihot esculenta Sesbania grandiflora and Passiflora edulis and traditionally used medicinal plants namely: Boerhavia diffusa Costus speciosus and Toddalia asiatica. Qualitative analysis proved the presence of alkaloids terpenoids tannins flavonoids phenols saponins and steroids in acetone ethanol and aqueous leaf extracts of these plants. Also all the plant extracts showed significant antibacterial activity against selected human pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Thus traditional medicinal plants and/or locally available and commonly used green leafy vegetables are the most valuable source of new bioactive chemical entities not only due to their ecological biodiversity but also their diverse chemical endowment within each species.