BackgroundAn ethnobotanical survey was undertaken to record information on medicinal plants from traditional medical practitioners in Babungo and to identify the medicinal plants used for treating diseases.MethodsTraditional Medical Practitioners (TMP's) who were the main informants were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires and open-ended conversations. Field trips were made to the sites where TMP's harvest plants.ResultsThe survey identified and recorded 107 plants species from 54 plant families, 98 genera used for treating diseases in Babungo. The Asteraceae was the most represented plant family while herbs made up 57% of the total medicinal plants used. The leaf was the most commonly used plant part while concoction and decoction were the most common method of traditional drug preparation. Most medicinal plants (72%) are harvested from the wild and 45% of these have other non medicinal uses. Knowledge of the use of plants as medicines remains mostly with the older generation with few youth showing an interest.ConclusionsA divers number of plants species are used for treating different diseases in Babungo. In addition to their use as medicines, a large number of plants have other non medicinal uses. The youth should be encouraged to learn the traditional medicinal knowledge to preserve it from being lost with the older generation.

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Among the priority species identified for domestication in the Sahel region of Sub-Sahara Africa is the baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) tree. The quantification of the variation in nutrient content and fruit morphological traits of trees is one of the most important steps in identifying superior planting material for domestication. Ten provenances in Mali covering all the different agro-ecological zones were selected and the fruit morphological traits, vitamin C, calcium, iron and colour were studied. Mean pulp content was 2,149 +/- A 1,117 , 2,406 +/- A 776 and 25 +/- A 17 mg kg(-1) for vitamin C, calcium and iron, respectively. Fruit pulp colour varied from white, creamy to pink and a significant correlation between pulp vitamin C content and reflectance in the green and blue bands was observed. Significant negative correlations were found between rainfall and pulp vitamin C content and between mean annual temperature and fruit and pulp weight and pulp fraction, suggesting that these traits are influenced by the environment. Pulp iron content correlated positively with topsoil sodicity and base saturation. Similarly, pulp vitamin C content correlated positively with topsoil sand fraction. Pulp reflectance in the blue and green bands correlated negatively with topsoil pH water and base saturation, respectively. The variation in nutritive and morphological traits offers the opportunity for selecting plus trees with a combination of desired traits for domestication