Kell Tanabe Jr

To test for antimicrobial activity, crude extractions of the fruit of Barringtonia edulis were performed using traditional Hawaiian implements of a stone grinder (poi pounder) and a wooden board. The Kirby-Bauer method was used to test the antimicrobial properties of these extractions against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans. The crude extracts exhibited no antimicrobial activities. Not all plants have an appreciable evidence of antimicrobial activities. It is possible that the fruit of Barringtonia edulis possess antimicrobial activity against other microorganisms that were not tested in this study. Introduction Nearly all cultures have a history of using herbal medicine (Whistler 1996) and many herbal remedies have been shown to have effective antimicrobial properties. Avato et al. (2004) studied the effects of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) and found it to possess antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus. Dulger and Gonuz (2004) reported 10 of 16 Turkish medicinal plants exhibited antimicrobial activity. Myrtus communis showed exceptional antimicrobial properties against nine out of 12 tested microorganisms (Dulger and Gonuz 2004). Oils extracted from Phlomis fruticosa demonstrated a variety of antimicrobial and antifungal activities (Ristic et al. 2000). Janovska et al. (2003) found that five traditional Chinese medicinal plants displayed antimicrobial activity against B. cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. After studying the antimicrobial effects of extracts from selected Hawaiian plants, Locher et al. (1995) concluded that traditional medicine is a valuable resource in the potential discovery of natural product pharmaceuticals. Traditional healers in the Pacific claim a wide array of benefits associated with the use of herbal medicine (Whistler 1996). Barringtonia asiatica (Fish Poison Tree) is used both as a stupefying agent by Pacific island fishermen and as an herbal remedy to treat septic wounds (Roy 1996, Herlt et al. 2002, Whistler 1992). Khan and Omoloso (2002) found that B. asiatica