Latex is a natural plant polymer and milky white fluid distributed throughout the plant body like leaves, stems, roots
and fruits of all flowering plants and consists of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins and gums that
coagulate on-air exposure. It is secreted by specialized plant cells called Laticifers. Plants exude latex in response to physical
damage. The present study was carried out to assess the potential antifungal activity of latex of five different plants namely
Plumeria rubra, Plumeria alba, Aloe vera, Calotropis procera and Calotropis gigantea against three different pathogenic strains
of fungi. All five latexes were found to show good to moderated activity against all the three fungal strains, namely Trichoderma
viride, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger.
