Table 7.

Antibiotic activity of Plantago major L. water extract, methanol extract (MeOH), 50% and 70% ethanol extract (EtOH) determined by measurement of inhibition zones of discs containing extracts on bacteria cultures on agar plates^a

Bacteria	H2O	MeOH	50% EtOH	70% EtOH	Referencesb
Staphylococcus aureus	−		++	+	1, 2, 3
S. aureus, methicillin resistant		+			5
S. aureus, methicillin sensitive		−			5
Streptococcus pyogenes			−		3
Bacillus subtilis		−	++	−	2, 3, 5
Shigella sonnei				+	2
S. flexneri			−/+	++	2, 3, 4
S. dysenteriae			++		4
Salmonella typhi			−/+		3, 4
S. enteritidis			−		4
S. typhimurium		++			5
Serratia marcescens		−			5
Enterobacter aerogenes		−			5
Esherichia coli	−	−	++	+	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Escherichia “crim”				+	2
Klebsiella pneumonia		−			5
Pseudomonas aeruginosa		−	−		3, 5
Proteus vulgaris			−		3
Mycobacteriumphlei		+			5
M. smegmatis				+	2

^aEffects as defined by the authors: −, inhibition zone <6–8 mm; +, inhibition zone 6–10 mm; ++, inhibition zone 10–15 mm.

^bReferences: 1, Gaw and Wang (1949); 2, Moskalenko (1986); 3, Cáceres et al. (1987b); 4, Cáceres et al. (1990); and 5, McCutcheon et al. (1992).