The anticestodal efficacy of nine plants that are used in the indigenous system of medicine by Naga tribes in north-east India to cure intestinal-helminth parasitic infections was tested employing
Raillietina echinobothrida
, a tapeworm of poultry, as a model test parasite. The study revealed that the leaves of
Psidium guajava
,
Houttuynia cordata
and stalk of
Lasia spinosa
possess a profound anticestodal efficacy as evident by the mean mortality time of
R. echinobothrida which ranged from 1 to 3.66 hrs, following exposure to 5 - 40 mg/ml concentration of these plant extracts. Moderate activity was recorded for the leaves of
Clerodendrum colebrookianum
,
Lasia spinosa and
Centella asiatica
, while
Curcuma longa
,
Cinnamomum cassia
,
Gynura angulosa
,
Lasia spinosa (stem) and
Aloe vera
revealed a negligible degree of anticestodal activity.
