Which Plants for What Ailments: A Quantitative Analysis of Medicinal Ethnobotany of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Studies on medicinal ethnobotany in rural areas and communities are important for documentation and generation of indigenous knowledge on the medicinal use of plants, as well as identification of new botanicals of pharmacological significance. This paper presents, for the first time, the quantitative ethnobotanical uses of medicinal plants in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The ethnobotanical survey was carried out by conducting semistructured interviews with 70 informants/collaborators. Data were analyzed using various quantitative indices, namely, Ethnobotanical Knowledge Index (EKI), Species Popularity Index (SPI), Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), Cultural Importance Index (CII), Informant Consensus Factor (FIC), Fidelity Level (FL), and Species Therapeutic Index (STI). A total of 87 plant species belonging to 43 families were documented along with their medicinal uses. Euphorbiaceae is the most implicated family (9%) of the plants documented, and herbs (36%) were the prevalent life form while leaf (46%) was the most used plant part. Fevers are the most common diseases treated with the medicinal plants with 1012 use-reports, followed by skin diseases with 314 use-reports while the most common mode of preparation is decoction (37%). Telfaria occidentalis has the highest SPI and RFC (0.99, 0.99) while Khaya grandifoliola has the highest CII of 1.91. The community has EKI of 0.57 indicating a good knowledge of medicinal plants around them. Species such as Citrus aurantifolia, Khaya grandifoliola, and Ocimum gratissimum have high quantitative indices suggesting that they are effective in the treatment of various diseases in the community and therefore should be considered for pharmacological studies to validate their folkloric usages.

Ethnobotanical Survey of Local Flora Used for Medicinal Purposes among Indigenous People in Five Areas in Lagos State, Nigeria

“…In the study area, a significant portion (34.4%) of the medicinal plants were herbs ( Figure 2 ). A similar high dependence on herbaceous plants was evident in some previous studies [ 16 , 19 ]. Globally, herbaceous life forms are often abundant and widely distributed thereby contributing to their frequent utilisation as herbal medicine among different communities.…”

“…In addition, these five aforementioned locations had 24 medicinal plants in common. In comparison to similar ethnobotanical studies conducted in Southwestern Nigeria [ 13 , 16 , 23 , 25 , 29 ], the current study areas had a higher number of plants used for medicinal purposes. The generated inventory contributes to a global effort to document local flora and their accompanying indigenous knowledge for the benefit of the current and future generations [ 1 , 7 , 22 ].…”

“…Plants with more than three local names included Malvastrum coromandelianum, Microdesmis puberula, Mariscus alternifolius, Senna tora and Urena lobata . Mukaila et al [ 16 ] highlighted the use of more than one local name for medicinal plants in a recent ethnobotanical survey in Southwestern Nigeria, and evidence of newly recorded vernacular names was reported. Plant naming is frequent among ethnic groups, and the same plant may be given multiple names in different languages and localities [ 1 , 17 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

“…The inherent benefits such as relative affordability and accessibility of traditional medicine to a significant portion of the global population, especially in developing countries, further highlight the renewed interest from different stakeholders [ 4 , 5 , 10 ]. An increasing number of ethnobotanical studies are being done among diverse tribes and ethnic groups around the world, based on the understanding and acknowledgement of the relevance of plants for therapeutic effects and associated cultural value [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

“…In Nigeria, the diverse floristic compositions of plant forms, including trees, shrubs, herbs, and other non-timber forest resources, has contributed greatly to the widespread use of Nigerian plants as medicine [ 1 , 13 , 16 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Furthermore, the use of medicinal plants is well-known among the indigenous peoples of Southwestern Nigeria.…”