Phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the crude extracts from the root, stem bark and leaves of Bridelia ferruginea

The root, stem bark and leaves of Bridelia ferruginea, which have some ethnomedicinal applications were investigated for their action against some disease causing microorganisms. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, saponins, steroids, flavonoids, anthraquinones and phlobatannins (mostly in root and stem bark). The antimicrobial screening of the crude methanol extract carried out in vitro had wide range of activity on Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis and Candida albicans. The crude root extracts inhibited the growth of E. coli, S. aureus, S. typhi, P. mirabilis and C. albicans at concentrations of 40, 100, 60, 60, and 80 mg/ml respectively, while the stem bark had minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 60 mg/ml on S. typhi and 10 mg/ml on C. albican. The extract from leaf had no antimicrobial activity against any of the clinical isolates used for this work. The findings indicate that the extracts from root contain the most active components.