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ABSTRACT
One species of plant in the genus Rauvolfia is the Poison devil's pepper, Rauvolfia vomitora Ieaves were gotten from Ezza local government Area of Ebonyi state, Nigeria. Rauvolfia vomitoria is one of the medicinal plants commonly used in folk medicine in the treatment of Psycholic disorder and hypertension. The bacterial isolates; Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens and Klebsiella pneumoniae were obtained from the Department of Microbiolgy,University Of Benin,Benin City.The phytochemical analysis of Rauvolfia vomitoria leaves extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, glycosides and flavonoid. However, the aqueous and ethanol extract of the plant showed no antimicrobial activity against any of the test organism. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the methanol extract is 55µg/ml concentration while for the minimum bactericidal concentration, no value was obtained. Results of antimicrobial assay suggest that alcohol especially methanol is a better solvent for more consistent extraction of active substances against microbes from medicinal plants compared to other solvents. Klebsiella pneumonia having the least inhibitory effect(7.00±1.00) at 25% methanol extract concentration and Vibrio cholerae having highest inhibitory effect (16±2.00) at 100% methanol extract concentration. The antimicrobial activities demonstrated by the extracts of this plant therefore offer a scientific basis for the traditional use of these plants in treatment of opportunistic infection.
