The strongest-supported botanicals for Borrelia/Lyme in the sources you provided are Cryptolepis sanguinolenta and Japanese knotweed, with cat’s claw, Chinese skullcap, sweet wormwood, black walnut, and Cistus/rockrose also showing notable in vitro activity – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab)
A practical ranked list by strength of evidence from your results is:
- Cryptolepis sanguinolenta — repeatedly identified as one of the top performers against B. burgdorferi, including stationary/persistent forms, and described as the strongest in at least one study summary.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab)
- Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) — also described as a top performer, with very low MICs against replicating Borrelia and strong activity in stationary-phase testing.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab)
- Cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa) — consistently listed among the botanicals with strong in vitro anti-borrelia activity.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab)
- Chinese skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis) — consistently listed among active botanicals and among the stronger extracts in the lab studies.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab)
- Sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) — repeatedly reported as active against Borrelia in
vitro.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab) - Black walnut (Juglans nigra) — shown to have strong activity in the botanical screening study.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)
- Cistus / rockrose (Cistus creticus / Cistus incanus) — active in the stationary-phase study and listed among the stronger botanical hits.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)
- Thyme / oil of oregano — strong anti-persister activity, but the evidence in your set is stronger for the essential oils than for the whole herbs.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab)https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/a-2640-4274?device=desktop&innerWidth=412&offsetWidth=412 (opens in new tab)
- Cinnamon bark / clove bud / citronella / wintergreen / garlic oil — very active in essential-oil studies, especially against stationary/persister forms.https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/a-2640-4274?device=desktop&innerWidth=412&offsetWidth=412 (opens in new tab)
- Baicalein, monolaurin, berberine, resveratrol, quercetin — these are phytochemicals/nutraceutical compounds, not botanicals in the strict herb sense, but they showed meaningful anti-borrelial activity in the cited reviews.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jam.12970 (opens in new tab)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2049936116655502 (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10384908/ (opens in new tab)
For Babesia and Bartonella, your provided sources support a much shorter list, with the most commonly cited botanicals being cryptolepis, Japanese knotweed, Chinese skullcap, and Andrographis paniculata.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10384908/ (opens in new tab) The evidence base here is thinner than for Lyme, and the citations you supplied are mostly review-level summaries rather than direct head-to-head studies.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10384908/ (opens in new tab)
A key caveat: these rankings are based mainly on lab/in vitro findings, not proven human treatments, and “strongest” here usually means lower MIC or better killing in specific experiments rather than clinical efficacy – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7050641/ (opens in new tab)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10124234/ (opens in new tab)https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/02/21/ethnobotanical-medicine-is-effective-against-the-bacterium-causing-lyme-disease (opens in new tab)https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/a-2640-4274?device=desktop&innerWidth=412&offsetWidth=412 (opens in new tab)