Abstract

An inventory is presented for the medicinal plants of the Sango bay area in Southern Uganda. Fieldwork was conducted between March and August 2004, using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and participant observation as well as transect walks in wild herbal plant collection areas. One hundred and eighty-six plant species belonging to 163 genera and 58 families with medicinal values were recorded. Remedies from these plants are prepared mainly as decoctions and infusions and administered in a variety of ways. The majority (51.3%) of these plants are herbaceous, growing mainly in the wild. Grasslands provided the highest number of species for medicinal use (54.6%) followed by home gardens (25.4%) and fallow land (19.5%). A review of Ugandan and other literature indicated that 72 (38.5%) medicinal plants reported in this study have not been reported previously as having medicinal value. According to respondents, plant species including Hallea rubrostipulata (K. Schum) J-F Leroy (Rubiaceae) and Warburgia ugandensis Sprague (Canellaceae) are threatened because of poor harvesting techniques and unsustainable harvesting intensities. Suggestions for future conservation programs, sustainable utilization and ethnopharmacological studies are given.

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