Evaluation of Antimicrobial Effects of Some Plant Species Growing in Turkiye: Verbascum lydium Boiss. var. lydium Boiss., Euphorbia anacampseros Boiss. var. tmolea M.S. Khan., Rosa pisiformis subsp. pisiformis (Christ) D. Sosn., Stachys tmolea Boiss. subsp. tmolea and Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has emerged as a critical global public health issue, necessitating the exploration of alternative measures to combat infectious diseases. Traditional medicinal plants have been long recognized for their potential in providing natural compounds with antimicrobial properties for various therapeutic purposes. The diverse plant biodiversity in Turkiye offers a promising potential for the discovery of novel antimicrobial compounds. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial activities of extracts from several endemic and non-endemic plant species against various microorganisms. The endemic species included Verbascum lydium Boiss. var. lydium Boiss. (stem), Euphorbia anacampseros Boiss. var. tmolea M. S. Khan. (root), Stachys tmolea Boiss. subsp. tmolea (leaves and stem), Rosa pisiformis subsp.pisiformis (Christ) D. Sosn. (fruit, petiole, root, leaves), while non-endemic species were represented by cultivated Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott (fruit). In this research, the effectiveness of V. lydium var. lydium (stem), E. anacampseros var. tmolea (root), R. pisiformis subsp. pisiformis (all tested parts) and A. melanocarpa (fruit) were demonstrated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Methanolic extracts of the roots and leaves of R. pisiformis subsp. pisiformis showed the most promising bioactivity with a MIC value of 62.5 μg mL-1 on Pseudomonas aeruginosa among all tested extracts. In addition, the results showed that antimicrobial activities were observed for V. lydium; S. tmolea and R. pisiformis against Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata and Klebsiella pneumoniae with MIC values of 31.5 μg mL-1 per each. The findings of this study could provide valuable information for future research into the use of Turkish plants for pharmacological purposes, public health and traditional medicine applications.