Traditional plant use in Burkina Faso (West Africa): a national-scale analysis with focus on traditional medicine

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

Marco Schmidt³  Karen Hahn³  Georg Zizka³  Oumarou Ouédraogo⁴  Issaka Ouédraogo⁴  Amadé Ouédraogo⁴  Blandine MI Nacoulma⁴  Stefan Dressler¹  Adjima Thiombiano⁴  Alexander Zizka² 

[1] Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany;Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Carl Skottsbergs gata 22B, Box 461, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden;Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany;Département de Biologie et Physiologie végétales, Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie Végétales, Université de Ouagadougou, 03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso

关键词: West Africa;    Relative importance index;    Usefulness;    Economic botany;    Traditional medicine;    Medicinal plants;    Ethnobotany;   

Others  :  1146155
DOI  :  10.1186/1746-4269-11-9

 received in 2014-07-07, accepted in 2014-11-25,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

The West African country of Burkina Faso (BFA) is an example for the enduring importance of traditional plant use today. A large proportion of its 17 million inhabitants lives in rural communities and strongly depends on local plant products for their livelihood. However, literature on traditional plant use is still scarce and a comprehensive analysis for the country is still missing.

Methods

In this study we combine the information of a recently published plant checklist with information from ethnobotanical literature for a comprehensive, national scale analysis of plant use in Burkina Faso. We quantify the application of plant species in 10 different use categories, evaluate plant use on a plant family level and use the relative importance index to rank all species in the country according to their usefulness. We focus on traditional medicine and quantify the use of plants as remedy against 22 classes of health disorders, evaluate plant use in traditional medicine on the level of plant families and rank all species used in traditional medicine according to their respective usefulness.

Results

A total of 1033 species (50%) in Burkina Faso had a documented use. Traditional medicine, human nutrition and animal fodder were the most important use categories. The 12 most common plant families in BFA differed considerably in their usefulness and application. Fabaceae, Poaceae and Malvaceae were the plant families with the most used species. In this study Khaya senegalensis, Adansonia digitata and Diospyros mespiliformis were ranked the top useful plants in BFA. Infections/Infestations, digestive system disorders and genitourinary disorders are the health problems most commonly addressed with medicinal plants. Fabaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, Malvaceae and Rubiaceae were the most important plant families in traditional medicine. Tamarindus indica, Vitellaria paradoxa and Adansonia digitata were ranked the most important medicinal plants.

Conclusions

The national-scale analysis revealed systematic patterns of traditional plant use throughout BFA. These results are of interest for applied research, as a detailed knowledge of traditional plant use can a) help to communicate conservation needs and b) facilitate future research on drug screening.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Zizka et al.; licensee BioMed Central.