ABSTRACT
The use of plants in treatment of burns, dermatophytes, and infectious diseases is common in traditional medicine of Iran. Based on ethno pharmacological and taxonomic information, antibacterial activities of methanol extracts of some medicinal plants of Iran were determined by In Vitro bioassays using agar diffusion-method against standard strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus and B. pumilis at 20 mg/ml. From 180 plant species of 72 families, 78 species [43.3%] in 42 families [58.3%] showed antibacterial activities against B. cereus [88.4%], B. subtilis [39.7%], B. pumilis [37.1%], P. fluorescens [37.1%] and P. aeruginos [10.2%]. The most active plant families were Apiaceae, Compositae and Labiatae with 9, 8 and 7 active plant species respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentrations [MIC] of the active plants were determined using two fold serial dilutions. Most active plant against Bacilli was Myrtus communis L. with MIC of 1.87 mg/ml. For Pseudomonas species, Dianthus caryophyllus L. and Terminalia chebula [Gaertner] Retz. were more active with the MIC of 0.46 mg/ml for P. fluorescens and of 1.87 mg/ml for P. aeruginosa respectively