A COMPARATIVE ANTIBACTERIAL STUDY OF IXORA COCCINEA L. PLANTS WITH RED, ORANGE, PINK AND WHITE FLOWERS

Eradication of pathogenic bacterial infection is the most effective means of curing several diseases and preventingrecurrent episodes. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the comparative antibacterial activity of Ixora coccinea L.plants with red, orange, pink and white flowers against tested bacteria Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis,Klebsiella pneumoniae. Both the methanolic and aqueous extracts of all four types of flowers exhibited considerable antibacterialactivities against bacteria. The methanolic extracts of red and pink flowers exhibited high antibacterial activity whereas orangeflowers showed moderate activity while white flowers showed low activity. The aqueous extracts displayed less inhibitory effectscompared to the methanolic extracts. The aqueous extracts of red and pink flowers showed considerable high antibacterialactivity compared to orange and white flowers. The preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids,glycosides, steroids, carbohydrates, flavonoids and tannins