Anthelmintic activities of three medicinal plants from Nigeria

Aqueous extracts of the leaf, stem bark and root bark from Canna bidentata, Spondias mombin and Commiphora africana were examined for anthelmintic activity against earthworm. All the extracts demonstrated a concentration-dependent activity at tested concentrations of 10-80 mg/ml. Higher activities were observed at the higher concentrations, 40-80 mg/ml for all the plant extracts. C. bidentata with a paralysis time of 3-5 min and death time of 5-18 min at these concentrations for the stem bark, and S. mombin which exhibited comparatively higher efficacy (34-44 min paralysis time and 105 min death time for the leaf) at lower concentrations of 10-20 mg/ml were adjudged the outstanding anthelmintics of plant origin accordingly.