Investigation of molluscicidal activity of certain Sudanese plants used in folk-medicine. I. A preliminary biological screening for molluscicidal activity of certain Sudanese plants used in folk-medicine.

A preliminary biological screening for molluscicidal activity of certain Sudanese plants used in Folk-medicine was carried out. 78 samples belonging to 51 species, 45 genera and 28 families were screened. The aqueous extracts of 18 samples belonging to 8 species, 6 genera and 5 families were found to be active against Bulinus truncatus and 7 of these were also found to be active against Biomphalaria pfeifferi. Successive extraction of the 18 active samples with petroleum ether, ethanol and water showed that the petroleum ether extracts of only 4 samples were active against Bulinus truncatus; while the alcoholic extracts of 16 samples were found to be active against the same snail species. Only the alcoholic extracts of 4 samples were proved to be active against Biomphalaria pfeifferi. In the successive extraction technique, only the aqueous extract of Gardenia vogelii fruit pulp was proved to be active against the two snail species tested.