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7.1 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 7
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Plant specimens and ethnobotanical information were collected in different areas of
the uThungulu District Municipality, in the Ongoye region of KwaZulu-Natal Province,
in South Africa. These areas include Makholokholo, Mhlaleni, Ntshidi, Ekuphumuleni,
Macekane, Obisana, Gugushe, Ophongola, and Sinjingwane. From these areas
information of 33 plant species were found; 18 plant species were collected for
experimental purposes, identified, prepared for herbarium purposes, and tested for
antimicrobial activity. The questionnaire was used as the main information collection
tool.
The collected plants which were tested were selected on the basis of availability.
Each plant was separated into different parts, namely, the leaves, stem, barks and
roots. But mostly, the focus was on the parts that were mentioned by the people
during the survey. The interviews revealed that Hypericum aethiopicum
(unsukumbili) is the plant that is most trusted by the people of the Ongoye area to
heal sores and wounds as it was mentioned more repeatedly during the survey than
any of the other plants.
Antibacterial activity testing was carried out with ten microorganisms, four of which
were ATCC strains; and six were multi-drug-resistant strains from Lancet
Laboratories, Durban. Agar well diffusion and disc diffusion antibacterial assays were
carried out with a view to finding out how effective the plants were against the
bacteria which infect sores and wounds. The controls used were the antibiotic,
neomycin (positive) and the negative control DMSO. The clear zones obtained from
these methods were measured and compared to the controls in millimeters.
The serial dilution assay was conducted to determine the MIC which is described in
Chapter 2. Positive and negative controls were also used for comparison purposes.
At the end, the INT had to be added in order to get the pink/purple color. Comparing
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