Abstract

• The medicinal plants Barleria cristata L. and Barleria prionitis L. belong to the family Acanthaceae. Barleria cristata L. is known as blue bell barleria in English, leik-tha-ywe-pya in Myanmar. Barleria prionitis L. is known as porcupine flower in English, leik-sa-ywe in Myanmar. These plants are collected from Pyay Township. Comparative morphological characters, Barleria cristata L. is perennial mush branched shrubs; leaves simple, glabrous in two surfaces. Barleria prionitis L. is perennial erect spinescent herbs or undershrubs; leaves simple, exstipulate, spines 2- 4 in the leaf axils, sparsely pubescent on both surfaces. In the result of antimicrobial test, various extracts of the leaves of Barleria cristata L. and Barleria prionitis L. are tested against six pathogenic microorganisms by using paper disc diffusion assay method. Antimicrobial activities of different solvent extracts (petroleum-ether, chloroform, ethyl-acetate, acetone, ethanol, methanol and water) of Barleria cristata L. and Barleria prionitis L. were tested on six pathogenic microorganisms such as Aspergillus flavous, Bacillus subtilis, Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Xanthomonas oryzae at Department of Botany, University of Yangon.