An Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Knowledge and Uses of Medicinal Wild Plants among the Marakwet Community in Kenya

Abstract

Traditional plant knowledge and uses of medicinal wild plants were investigated among the Marakwet community in Kenya. Data were collected through interviews with seven traditional healers and 157 questionnaires for local community members. Traditional names of the plants by traditional healers and local community members were prepared as a checklist. Loss of traditional medicinal names of plants was ascertained with up to 60% overlapping in their nomenclature. The traditional medicinal plants treated 41 diseases within the region, of which local community members understood common ones for treating stomachache (94.8%), diarrhea (70.7%), chest problems (65.5%), and typhoid (63.8%). It was also clear that there was low knowledge index of medicinal plants by the local community members (23.6%) based on knowledge of traditional healers. Clearly, medicinal plants for treatment of malaria, diabetes, tetanus, and pneumonia were recognized by over 40% of the local community members, while plants treating arteriosclerosis, meningitis, arthritis, trachoma, smallpox, rheumatic fever, and gout were known by less than 10% of the respondents. Among plants, the use of roots for treatment was known by over 67% of the local community members compared to fruits, bark, bulb, and flowers (<10%). This low traditional medicinal knowledge in a community relies on the traditional medicinal plants, calling for an urgent need to document the information and perpetuate this knowledge from one generation to another. This can be achieved by collecting the information and developing a database of medicinal plants for future research and potential development of new drugs.

An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants used in the Management of Dermatological Disorders in Buyende and Kayunga Districts, Uganda

“…2). For a long time, research has shown that old people are the greatest custodians of traditional knowledge of medicinal plant use than the young [18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. The present study however was found to be inconsistent with other studies by showing that the youth are now engaging in utilization and commercialization of medicinal plants.…”

“…However, research shows that literacy levels of people determined the mode of treatment [30]; the less educated preferred traditional methods of treatment where as the well educated preferred modern methods of health care. Research over the years has shown low literacy levels among research respondents: [31,32,33,26].…”

Ethnobotanical survey on plants used in Mai Municipality of Ilam district, eastern Nepal

“…were rare, and were familiar only to the traditional healers and a few local community members. This indicates the issue of knowledge erosion due to modern medicine and other reasons including socio-cultural issues and over exploitation as indicated by Wanjohi et al (2020) in Kenya. In the study area, the local government should ensure adequate income to the community healers and support in cultivation of medicinal plants for effective conservation of biodiversity and traditional knowledge.…”

Ecological Knowledge of indigenous plants among the Marakwet Community (Embobut Basin), Elgeyo Marakwet County (Kenya)

“…Therefore, in this study we determined the IEK of the plant species, use and conservation among the elders and compared that knowledge among the local community members. In Kenya, the Marakwet sub-ethnic group have long history of using plants and therefore large numbers of studies have been conducted in the region (Kipkore et al, 2014;Wanjohi et al, 2020). The elders are custodian of the IEK in their communities while the local residents were supposed to positively identify to help in the preservation of the traditional knowledge.…”