A lexicon of plants traded in the Witwatersrand <i>umuthi shops</i>, South Africa

Abstract

At least 511 medicinal plant species are traded commercially in 50 Witwatersrand  umuthi shops. The plants are listedalphabetically by genus and common (vernacular) name. The orthographic vernacular names, as well as the orthographicvariations in these names, are incorporated into the list. Annotations include the plant family, the number of umuthi shopsstocking the species, the language of the common name, and the plant part traded. The plant family in the region which hasthe highest number of species and infraspecific taxa in trade is Liliaceae  sensu lato., followed in descending order by  Fabaceae, Asteraceae. Euphorbiaceae and Amaryllidaceae. Approximately 88.6% of the vernacular names are in Zulu. Themean number of umuthi shops per species is 12.3. ranging from 1 to 41. Three hundred and fifty three species (69.2%) occurin the four northern provinces, and 23 species are listed as threatened on the Red Data List.