Molluscicidal activities of six species of Bignoniaceae from north-eastern Brazil, as measured against Biomphalaria glabrata under laboratory conditions.

The molluscicidal profile and brine-shrimp bio-activity of the ethanolic extracts of plants from the Bignoniaceae family were determined. The six extracts investigated were of the stems of Melloa quadrivalvis and Tabebuia aurea, and whole plants of Adenocalymma comosum, Arrabidaea parviflora, Cuspidaria argentea and Clytostoma binatum. When tested in the laboratory, with Biomphalaria glabrata as the test snail, all six extracts gave median lethal concentrations (9-54 microg/ml) that fell well below the upper threshold, of 100 mug/ml, set for a potential molluscicide by the World Health Organization.