Researchers at Johns Hopkins university studied 14 plant-based extracts and compared their effectiveness against doxycycline and cefuroxime, two antibiotics used to treat Lyme disease.
Of the 14 planets, Japanese knotweed and Ghanaian quinine were found to be the most effective.
Some of the other plants that outperformed the antibiotics include black walnut, cat’s claw, sweet wormwood, Mediterranean rockrose and Chinese skullcap.
The plants were found to be effective against B. burgdorferi, the tick-carried bacteria responsible for Lyme disease.
Dr Ying Zhang from John Hopkins said: “This study provides the first convincing evidence that some of the herbs used by patients such as Cryptolepis, black walnut, sweet wormwood, cat’s claw, and Japanese knotweed have potent activity against Lyme disease bacteria, especially the dormant persister forms, which are not killed by the current Lyme antibiotics.