Traditional medicinal plant knowledge and use by local healers in Sekoru District, Jimma Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

The knowledge and use of medicinal plant species by traditional healers was investigated in Sekoru District, Jimma Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia from December 2005 to November 2006. Traditional healers of the study area were selected randomly and interviewed with the help of translators to gather information on the knowledge and use of medicinal plants used as a remedy for human ailments in the study area. In the current study, it was reported that 27 plant species belonging to 27 genera and 18 families were commonly used to treat various human ailments. Most of these species (85.71%) were wild and harvested mainly for their leaves (64.52%). The most cited ethnomedicinal plant species was Alysicarpus quartinianus A. Rich., whose roots and leaves were reported by traditional healers to be crushed in fresh and applied as a lotion on the lesions of patients of Abiato (Shererit). No significant correlation was observed between the age of traditional healers and the number of species reported and the indigenous knowledge transfer was found to be similar. More than one medicinal plant species were used more frequently than the use of a single species for remedy preparations. Plant parts used for remedy preparations showed significant difference with medicinal plant species abundance in the study area.

An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Asgede Tsimbila District, Northwestern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

“…Medicinal plant source habitats in the study area are consistent with the findings of Yineger and Yewhalaw (2007) where most of the medicinal plants (85.7%) utilized in southwestern Ethiopia were harvested from the wild. Of the cultivated plants, only W. somnifera and A. vera were cultivated primarily for their medicinal values.…”

“…Gidey et al (2009) also a significantly higher number of medicinal plants are reported by informants above 40 years of age among the Bench ethnic group. However, Yineger and Yewhalaw (2007) reported a statistically insignificant correlation between age and the number of medicinal plants by the local people in Jimma zone, south western Ethiopia. This could be related to knowledge acquisition by the lower age class in that locality.…”

“…The data from ranking methods (direct matrix ranking, preference/priority ranking) were presented in the form of ranks where ranks were determined based on the total scores under each attribute. Pearson's correlation test was also run in SPSS 16.0 software (SPSS 2008) to find out the relationship between knowledge distribution by age and sex of respondents (Yineger & Yewhalaw 2007). Frequency and relative frequency of plant species (Martin 1995) were calculated for the vegetation data.…”

Use of plants in healthcare: a traditional ethno-medicinal practice in rural areas of southeastern Bangladesh

“…However, the preferred source of medicinal plants varies from region to region, even from country to country, depending on availability. Unlike respondents in the study area, the Shaiji of Bangladesh (Halim et al 2007), traditional healers of Ethiopia (Yineger and Yewhalaw 2007) and local people in China (Lee et al 2008) generally prefer wild-harvested medicinal plants. Halim et al (2007), citing Palevitch (1991) and Uniyal et al (2000), with regard to preferences of communities for collecting medicinal plant parts from wild sources, noted that the medicinal properties of plant secondary metabolites produced under stress and competition are not always expressed in fast-growing monoculture.…”

Quantitative ethnobotanical study of common herbal remedies used against 13 human ailments catergories in Mauritius

“…Honey was also commonly added to preparations with the view of enhancing palatability and thereby improving compliance towards therapy. A study carried out by Yineger et al (2007) found that in most of remedy preparations, sugar, honey, tea, coffee, edible oil and garlic were the additives that were used. In the present study, various parts of plants were found to be utilised for the herbal formulations, with leaves being the most commonly used plant parts.…”