Antiprotozoal, Schistosomicidal, and Antimicrobial Activities of the Essential Oil from the Leaves of <i>Baccharis dracunculifolia</i>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Baccharis dracunculifolia</jats:italic> DC. (Asteraceae), popularly known as ‘<jats:italic>alecrim do campo</jats:italic>’, is a native plant from Brazil used in folk medicine as febrifuge, anti‐inflammatory, antiseptic, and to treat skin sores. Also, <jats:italic>B. dracunculifolia</jats:italic> is the most important plant source of the Brazilian green propolis, which is recognized for its antiseptic and antiprotozoal activities. This study aimed at investigating the <jats:italic>in vitro</jats:italic> antiprotozoal, schistosomicidal, and antimicrobial activities of the essential oil from the leaves of <jats:italic>B. dracunculifolia.</jats:italic> The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS, which allowed the identification of 14 compounds, mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes, such as (<jats:italic>E</jats:italic>)‐nerolidol (33.51%) and spathulenol (16.24%). The essential oil showed activity against promastigote forms of <jats:italic>Leishmania donovani</jats:italic>, with <jats:italic>IC</jats:italic><jats:sub>50</jats:sub> values of 42 μg/ml. The essential oil displayed high activity in the schistosomicidal assay, since all pairs of <jats:italic>Schistosoma mansoni</jats:italic> adult worms were dead after incubation with the essential oil (10, 50, and 100 μg/ml). <jats:italic>B. dracunculifolia</jats:italic> essential oil was neither cytotoxic against <jats:italic>Vero</jats:italic> cells, nor active in the antimicrobial and antiplasmodial assays.</jats:p>