galls; tulip poplar leaves, root inner bark and branch bark; and the devil's walking stick leaves. The extracts were then tested on three species of multi-drug-resistant bacteria commonly found in wound infections.

Aceinetobacter baumannii -- better known as "Iraqibacter" due to its association with wounded combat troops returning from the Iraq War -- exhibits extensive resistance to most first-line antibiotics. "It's emerging as a major threat for soldiers recovering from battle wounds and for hospitals in general," Quave says.

Staphylococcus aureus is considered the most dangerous of many common staph bacteria and can spread from skin infections or medical devices through the bloodstream and infect distant organs. Klebsiella pneumoniae is another leading cause of hospital infection and can result in life-threatening cases of pneumonia and septic shock.

Laboratory tests showed thata great wealth of chemical diversity, which is one more reason to protect natural environments," Dettweiler says. He plans to go to graduate school with a focus on researching plants for either medical or agricultural purposes. "I'm interested in plants because, even though they don't move from place to place, they are extremely powerful and important."

The research was supported by a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Program award to Emory University and grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.