Ethnobotany of Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae) in Tanzania

Amir, Halima Mvungi; Grace, Olwen M.; Wabuyele, E.; Manoko, Mkabwa L. K.

doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2019.01.038

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…An alternative interpretation is that knowledge accumulates over time, and that older people have had longer to learn about plant uses. Similar results were reported in some other cultural groups in Ethiopia [53,54] and among users of Aloe species in Tanzania [43]. Some studies indicated that valuable ethno-medicinal information was shared with researchers mostly from informants over 60 years of age [55].…”

Section: Ethno-medicinal and Bio-cultural Knowledge Among Gender And Age Categoriessupporting

confidence: 79%

“…In this study, it has been shown that most common traditional use of Aloe species was in the traditional health care system. This compares closely with the value of 74% of literature-based use records describing the medicinal uses of Aloe [28] and 73% for human medicines from 11 Aloe species in Tanzania [43]. There are 12 sub-categories under the medicine (Md) major use category like the most cited applications of Aloe species were for skin and subcutaneous tissue ailments accounted for 29.6%, followed with infections and infestations 26.5%, and digestive system 14.5%.…”

Section: Ethno-medicinal and Bio-cultural Values Of Aloessupporting

confidence: 75%

“…Most of the Aloe species were reported to have multiple uses, but the majority of uses were medicinal [42,43]. In this study, it has been shown that most common traditional use of Aloe species was in the traditional health care system.…”

Section: Ethno-medicinal and Bio-cultural Values Of Aloesmentioning

confidence: 63%

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Ethno-medicinal and bio-cultural importance of aloes from south and east of the Great Rift Valley floristic regions of Ethiopia

Belayneh

Demissew

Bussa

et al. 2020

Heliyon

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There are 46 Aloe species identified from Ethiopia out of which 67.3% are endemics but comprehensive data on their ethno-medicinal and bio-cultural values are lacking. Interview, focus group discussion (FGD), and guided field walks were conducted with 210 respondents (152 men and 58 women). Relative frequency of citation (RFC s ), informants' consensus factor (F ic ), use value (UV s ), relative importance index (RI s ), and cultural value index (CV) were analyzed. Non-parametric Kruskal Wallis and Wilcoxon tests were performed using R software. Twenty-three Aloe species were recorded in the study areas with 196 use-reports and 2158 citations, grouped into six major use categories (N UC ¼ 6). Medicinal use categories accounted for 149 use-reports (76%) with 1607 citations. The species with the highest numbers of use-reports were Aloe megalacantha subsp. alticola, A. trichosantha subsp. longiflora and A. calidophila of which 87, 75 and 61.1% respectively were medicinal uses. Aloe calidophila has highest values in all indices UV (11.72), RFC (0.68), RI (0.89), and CV (6.2). Among Aloe parts, leaf exudate accounted for 111 use-reports (49.1%) of which 92.9% were used for medicinal purposes. Aloe retrospiciens and A. ruspoliana were reported poisonous to carnivores. F ic values of the six major use categories ranged from 0.86 to 0.22. Elderly people (>60) had more knowledge than 25-40 and 41-60 age groups (Kruskal-Wallis chi-squared ¼ 12.17, df ¼ 3, p ¼ 0.006), which is significant difference in depth of ethno-medicinal knowledge. Men had more knowledge of medicinal uses than women (Wilcoxon test, p ¼ 0.002) significantly different, while women were knowledgeable than men for cultural uses like, cosmetic (Wilcoxon test, p ¼ 0.06), not significantly different. The ways in which aloes are used and valued have implications for their future medicinal utility, which instigate detailed phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

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Section: Ethno-medicinal and Bio-cultural Knowledge Among Gender And Age Categoriessupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Ethno-medicinal and Bio-cultural Values Of Aloessupporting

confidence: 75%

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Ethno-medicinal and bio-cultural importance of aloes from south and east of the Great Rift Valley floristic regions of Ethiopia

Belayneh

Demissew

Bussa

et al. 2020

Heliyon

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“…e supply of medicinal plant products sold in the Kenyan urban centers is also decreasing [21]. Amir et al [88] reported that few people in Tanzania cultivated medicinal Aloe species and that most of them were being obtained from the wild, resulting in the decline of wild Aloe populations. Aloe species in Kenya, are however threatened by factors related to the increase in human and livestock populations and international trade rather than utilization for herbal medicinal [89].…”

Section: Medicinal Floramentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ethnobotanical Survey of a Dryland Botanical Garden and Its Environs in Kenya: The Mutomo Hill Plant Sanctuary

Mutie

Gao

Kathambi

et al. 2020

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Mutomo hill plant sanctuary is a ten-hectare piece of land in Kenya listed as a botanical garden under the Botanical Gardens Conservation International, originally established in 1964 with the aim of conserving indigenous flora from destructive anthropogenic activities. This paper presents ethnobotanical documentation of medicinal plants of Mutomo hill plant sanctuary and its environs. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in Mutomo hill plant sanctuary and its environs with 48 herbalists aged between 32 and 96 years from July 2018 to February 2019 using a semistructured open-ended questionnaire. The plants were collected through random surveys with each herbalist in different ecotypes around the villages and within the Mutomo hill plant sanctuary. The Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) for each species reported was calculated to determine the plant species frequently collected. In total, 68 different plant species distributed in 28 families and 54 genera were reported. The frequently used plant families were Leguminosae (13 species), Lamiaceae (6 species), and Euphorbiaceae (6 species). Shrubs (37%) and trees (34%) were the dominant growth habits reported. The most cited plant species were Cassia abbreviata Oliv. (RFC = 0.63), Acacia nilotica (L.). Delile (RFC = 0.54), Strychnos heningsii Gilg (RFC = 0.46), and Aloe secundiflora Engl. (RFC = 0.31). Root (19 species) and bark (19 species) were the frequently collected plant parts. Infectious diseases (33) and digestive system disorders (24) were reported to be managed with the majority of the plant species. This study contributes to safeguarding the traditional knowledge on medicinal plants in the study area, which is useful in appreciating and acknowledging the cultural heritage of the Kamba people from the local perspective of Mutomo area in Kenya. It also adds to the knowledge base and documentation of medicinal plants, which is useful information as potential data for drug development.

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“…1). Aloe species play an important role in supporting local livelihoods across their distribution range, with documented uses for medicine, foods and as ornamental plants (Demissew and Nordal 2010;Grace 2011;Amir et al 2019). Local Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extinction risk and conservation gaps for Aloe (Asphodelaceae) in the Horn of Africa

et al. 2019

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Identification of conservation priorities is essential for conservation planning, especially as the biodiversity crisis develops. We aimed to support conservation prioritisation by addressing knowledge gaps for the genus Aloe in the Horn of Africa. Specifically, we developed a dataset of herbarium voucher specimens and occurrence data to estimate geographic distribution of 88 species of Aloe and used this to estimate extinction risk and establish the major threats to Aloe in this region. The resulting assessments, each published on the IUCN Red List, show that 39% of the species are threatened with extinction, and the principal threats are the expansion and intensification of crop farming and livestock farming, gathering of plants, and unintentional effects of logging and wood harvesting. We review ex situ conservation in botanic gardens and seed banks, revealing gaps in coverage and urgent priorities for collection, with 25 threatened Aloe species currently unrepresented in seed banks. Protected areas in the region offer limited coverage of Aloe distributions and the most recently designated protected areas are increasingly in regions that do not overlap with Aloe distributions. However, we show with a simple optimisation approach that even a modest increase in protected area of 824 square kilometres would allow representation of all Aloe species, although further data are needed to test the area required to ensure longterm persistence (resilience) of Aloe species.

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Ethnobotany of Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae) in Tanzania

Cited by 12 publications

References 15 publications

Ethno-medicinal and bio-cultural importance of aloes from south and east of the Great Rift Valley floristic regions of Ethiopia

Ethno-medicinal and bio-cultural importance of aloes from south and east of the Great Rift Valley floristic regions of Ethiopia

An Ethnobotanical Survey of a Dryland Botanical Garden and Its Environs in Kenya: The Mutomo Hill Plant Sanctuary

Extinction risk and conservation gaps for Aloe (Asphodelaceae) in the Horn of Africa

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