Antimicrobial Activity of Leaf Extracts of Memecylon heyneanum Benth. ex Wight & Arn.: An Endemic Tree Species of Southern Western Ghats

The genus Memecylon L. consists of more than 300 taxa, distributed mainly in the Old World. In Peninsular India, the genus Memecylon includes 34 species and nearly 18 species are endemic to the Western Ghats. Memecylon heyneayanum is an endemic and endangered tree species of Southern Western Ghats belonging to the family Melastomataceae, which is locally known as Kannavu, Kaya and Kanalai. It is a small tree growing in evergreen forests between the altitudes of 1500-2300 m asl. Being a medicinally promising species, the leaves of this evergreen tree are used to cure various ailments like diabetes, cough, leucorrhoea and menorrhagia. The powdered leaf was successively extracted with various solvents, Hexane, Petroleum ether, Chloroform, Acetone and Methanol through soxhlet apparatus. The extracts were tested for the antimicrobial activities against Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Micrococcus mucilaginosus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella terrigena, E. coli, Candida glabrata, Candida albicans and Candida sp. by agar well diffusion method at various concentrations (100µg, 150µg and 200µg) of extracts. All the extracts were effectively tested against microorganisms and also compared with standard antibiotic (Ampicilin; 100mg/ml). The maximum antimicrobial activities were obtained with maximum zone of inhibition in methanol (200µg) extract followed by Acetone, Chloroform, Petroleum ether and Hexane. The current results indicated that the potentiality of methanolic leaf extract and this can be utilized as natural drug for the treatment of several infectious diseases by microorganisms.