Antimalarial activity of traditional plants against erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium berghei

Abstract Alcoholic extracts of 44 plants were screened in vivo and in vitro for antimalarial activity against the NK 65 strain of Plasmodium berghei. Jurinea macrocephala, Artemisia scoparia, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Enicostema hyssopifolium, Aegle marmelos, Cinnamomum tamala, Momordica dioica and Prunus persica were found to possess schizontocidal activity (50% and above) in vivo as well as in vitro at a dose of 1 gm/kg × 4 days and 100 μg/ml respectively, whereas 12 other plant extracts were active only in vivo and 3 plant extracts in in vitro only.