Antibacterial and phytochemical properties of five chewing sticks

The antimicrobial activities of the ethanolic, Aqueous and Ethyl acetate extracts of five Nigerian medicinal plant used as chewing sticks were tested against five microorganism, three bacteria and two fungi. The five medicinal plant tested are Vitellaria paradoxa, Vitex doniana, Sarcorcephalus latiolia, Vernonia amygdalina, Olax subcorpidica and the microorganisns are Staphylococcus aureus, Neisseria sieca, Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus salivarius and Actinomycetes viscosus. Out of the three extracting medium, Ethanolic extract shows significant activity than Ethyl acetate and Aqueous extract, follow in that decreasing order, and Vitellaria paradoxa were more active in Ethanolic extract, Vitex doniana and Olax subcorpidica  were more active in Aqueous extract and  Vitex doniana and Sarcorcephalus latiolia were more active in Ethyl acetate extract. all the five microorganism react vigorously to the tested medicinal plant The results of in this investigation clearly indicate that the antibacterial and antifungal activity vary with the species of the plants and plant material used. Thus, the study ascertains the value of medicinal plants used in the Southwestern part of Nigeria and Africa as a whole,  which could be of considerable interest to the development of new drugs, production of new antibiotic, development of locally made chewing sticks which would  be commercially available to the Nigeria populace and transport to entire African region