Abstract
Like many other parts of Ethiopia, people in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) do have indigenous knowledge on the preparation and use of traditional medicinal plants. Even though different studies have been conducted to document medicinal plants in different zones of SNNPR separately, there is no previous review work which summarizes the medicinal plants and the associated indigenous knowledge at the regional level (at SNNPR region as a whole or in large scale). Also, there is no previous review work that prioritizes the factors that affect medicinal plants at the regional level (including threatened medicinal plants). The purpose of this paper was to review habitat, growth forms, the method of remedy preparation and administration, marketability of medicinal plants, and to prioritize the factors that affect medicinal plants in SNNPR. Most of the medicinal plants in the majority of the reviewed areas are harvested from wild. Herbs are the most utilized life forms and leaves are the most utilized plant part in the preparation of remedies. Fresh plant materials are the most employed in the preparation of remedies. Majority of medicinal plants are not marketable. Agricultural land expansion is a major threat to medicinal plants which followed by deforestation. Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata, Prunus africana, Echinops kebericho, Croton macrostachys, Cordia africana and Dodonaea angustifolia, Hagenia abyssinica, Withania somnifera and Ficus spp are the highly affected medicinal plant species which require conservation and management priority in the region.
Highlights
Starting from early times plants have been important sources of both defensive and curative traditional medicine preparations for both human beings and livestock
This review shows that herbs are the most utilized life forms in the preparation of remedies in SNNPR
This trend of using more of herbaceous plants can be seen as a benefit due to ease of cultivating herbs when they are in short supply and due to their better availability as compared to the other growth forms
Summary
Starting from early times plants have been important sources of both defensive and curative traditional medicine preparations for both human beings and livestock. As a result of its wide range of ecological, edaphic and climate diversity, is an important regional center for biological diversity (Kelbessa et al, 1992; Teketay, 2001; Friis et al, 2011) and possesses a wide range of potentially useful medicinal plants, more extensive than available in many other parts of the world (Abebe, 1986; Pankhurst, 2001; Yirga, 2010) This wide potential has been made reachable by a rich biodiversity and an ancient indigenous knowledge on the use of plants in traditional medicine (Balemie et al, 2004), on which 80% of the rural communities in the country depend (Addis et al, 2001; Bekalo et al, 2009; Birhan et al, 2018). Incomplete coverage of the modern medical system, lack of pharmaceuticals, poor staffing and expensive prices of modern drugs (Zerabruk and Yirga, 2012; Hishe and Asfaw, 2015) can be reasons why the majority of Ethiopians still http://jps.ccsenet.org
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