Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oils from Some Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

This research work was designed to examine the antimicrobial activities of some medicinal and aromatic plants. The essential oils of Adansonia digitata, Arachis hypodaea, Capsicum frutecens, Gossypium hirsutum, Hisbiscus esculentus, Nicotiana tabacum L., Piliostigma reticulatum Hochst, Sesamum alatum thoning, Solamum incanum L., Vernonia amygdalin and Vigna unguiculata were extracted by hydro-distillation and the oils were evaluated against some microorganisms. Among the plants tested, essential oils from Vigna unguiculata showed activity against all the tested microorganisms except Bacillius subtilis with minimum inhibition of 75 mm each. Piliostigma reticulatum Hochst showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia Coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans with minimum inhibition of 100 mm each. Sesamum alatum Thoning showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis with minimum inhibition of 100 mm each. The activities of the essential oils against the tested organisms may be responsible for the assumed therapeutic uses of the plants by the traditional healers.