Wandering through southwestern Nigeria: An inventory of Yoruba useful angiosperm plants

Heliyon

Yusuf Ola Mukaila¹  Saheed Sabiu²  Abdulwakeel Ayokun-nun Ajao³ 

[1] Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Durban University of Technology, P.O. Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa;Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Durban University of Technology, P.O. Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa;Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa;

关键词: Ethnobotany;    Food plants;    Magic plants;    Medicinal plants;    Yoruba people;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This paper is a compilation of all known uses of angiosperm plants by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. Information was gathered from the past experiences of authors and surveys of books, journal articles, dissertations (published and unpublished) and theses using online databases. The review presents 493 angiosperm species (65 monocots and 428 dicots) belonging to 99 families, of which Fabaceae contributed the highest number of useful plants (72 spp.), followed by Euphorbiaceae (31 spp.), Malvaceae (30 spp.), and Asteraceae (25 spp.). Generally, of the identified plants, 418 species are for medicinal purposes, 85 species are utilized as food and beverages, 65 species for other uses including games, food packaging, and arts and crafts while 22 species are used for magical purposes such as success charm, enhancing disappearance, protection from witches and escaping from the repercussion of an act. This study provides baseline ethnobotanical data for future quantitative analyses of useful plants in the region, as indigenous plant knowledge has not been properly explored and documented among the Yoruba people.

【 授权许可】

Unknown