Survey of Higher Plants for Presence of Antibacterial Substances

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Abstract
Water extracts of 231 spp. of higher plants collected in central and southern Ohio were tested for antibacterial properties by the cylinder-plate method. The test organisms used were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Erwinia carotovora, and Phytomonas tumefaciens. Extracts of 18 of the species showed sufficiently high values of inhibition of growth to warrant further study. The inhibitory activity of plant tissues varied with species of bacteria tested, part of plant used, stage in which plant was collected, and temperature under which plant was growing at time of collection. Other variations in activity may be due to method of extraction, culture medium used, and diffusibility of the extract through agar.