Antibacterial Activity of Leaf Extracts from the Desert Plant Capparis spinosa

The spiny caper plant (Capparis spinosa) is a medicinal herb with potent antibiotic properties. This study aimed to evaluate the inhibitory effect of extracts from this plant on the growth of the four bacterial species studied. The efficacy of three leaf extracts (aqueous, methanolic, and ethanolic) from plants growing in the western desert of Anbar province, Iraq, the inhibitory activity of the three extracts was tested against the growth of four medically important pathogenic bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus). The study concluded that the methanol extract was the most effective in inhibiting the growth of the studied bacterial species. It had the maximum inhibitory influence of 24.4 mm on B. subtilis. The lesser influence of 17.3 mm was on E. coli. The ethanol extract was the most effective in inhibiting the studied bacterial species, reaching 18.6 mm for B. subtilis. While Ps. aeruginosa showed a lower effect, reaching 09.5 mm in the aqueous extract.