Traditional medicine has a key role in health care worldwide. Obtaining scientific information about the efficacy and safety of the wild plants grown in western Mediterranean coast of Egypt is one of our research goals. In this study, 10 wild plants namely Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, Blackiella aellen, Arthrocnemon glaucum, Atriplex halimus, Thymelaea hirsute, Carduus getulus, Nicotiana glauca, Alhagi maurorum, Atractylis carduus and Echinops spinosissimus were collected from El-Hammam, Burg El Arab and Bahig regions located along the Western Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Hexane and methanol extracts of fresh aerial parts of the plants were screened in vitro for antimicrobial activity against 15 Gram positive and negative pathogenic bacteria. Both methanol and hexane plant extracts showed strong antibacterial activity against at least two pathogenic microorganisms tested. However, hexane extracts generally showed lower activity against microorganisms compared to methanol extracts. The microorganisms' susceptibility to different extracts did not correlate with the susceptibility or resistance to a particular antibiotic. The results of this study thus support the medical usage of the studied plants and suggest that some of these plants possess antimicrobial properties that can be used to cure infectious diseases.

I N RESPONSE to environmental and health concerns about the extended use of pesticides, it exists a considerable interest in finding alternative control approaches. The current study compared the antifungal activities of some biocontrol agents. Three fungal strains were isolated from infected tomato. Two belonged to genus Aspergillus and the third was Fusarium sp. Ten morphologically different bacterial strains were isolated from intact tomato roots and rhizospheric soils, they were screened for their antagonistic effects against the fungal isolates. Achromobacter xylosoxidans produced the most potent antifungal activity as indicated by the percentage of fungal weight loss recorded (equivalent to 73, 77, and 99% for Aspergillus sp. 1, Fusarium sp., and Aspergillus sp. 2, respectively). Four tested plants: Inula (Dittrichia viscosa), Onion (Allium cepa), Basillic (Ocimum basilicum), and Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) were tested for their antifungal activities against the isolated fungal pathogens. Inula extract showed the highest inhibition of fungal growth among the tested plants. The MIC values were evaluated for the tested biocontrol agents and compared with the standard antifungal chemicals: Between and Logico. In vivo study was performed using seedlings of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The seedlings infected with the fungal pathogens using spraying technique showed severe symptoms of fungal disease, while the tomato plants infected with fungal pathogens and treated with the biocontrol agents (cell-free supernatant of A. xylosoxidans or Inula extract) exhibited observed reduction in the percentage of disease severity.

Ricinus communis L. (Euphorbiaceae, Acalyphoideae) is a highly variable species known as the castor oil plant. This study aimed to describe R. communis using several methodologies, such as vegetative morphometry, leaf surface ultrastructure, soil analysis, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, to understand the diversity of this species. The morphological analysis revealed that some samples had purple stems while others were grayish-green. The purple-stemmed R. communis phenotype reflects the intra-specific diversity of the species. The multivariate analysis of 25 R. communis samples based on 34 vegetative morphometric characteristics revealed that they belonged to three main groups (morphotypes). Each group attained some specific characteristics discriminating it from the other groups. Selected samples from each group were investigated using SEM, soil analysis, and GC-MS. The performed GC-MS technique revealed that six major compounds were detected in the chromatograms of the studied samples. The highest percentages of n-Hexadecanoic acid and 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic acid were recorded. Ricinus communis demonstrated adaptive growth capability, where plants inhabiting coastal sites are salt-sensitive, while inland plants are relatively drought-tolerant species. The intra-specific variation between R. communis morphotypes indicated the possibility of the direct and indirect use of these varieties in genetic improvement programs of the species.