Antibacterial activity of Pentanema divaricata ethanol extract and its fractions

In the past few years, the world has taken a new view to herbal remedies and their applications and many researchers in various fields of medicine are studying this subject. In our program searching for antibacterial agents we have selected an extract prepared from the Pentanema divaricata. No report on the antibacterial activity of this species has been published in literature. Pentanema divaricata was collected from the around of Shiraz, Iran and identified. This plant was tested for its antibacterial activity on different bacterial species. The whole plant was used in this experiment and extracted with methanol (yield 13%). The methanol extract was partitioned in succession with different solvents. A notable effect was observed on gram-positive bacterial species Our results suggest that the methanol extract of Pentanema divaricata has an antibacterial activity, which is distributed in the non-polar fractions.