Medicinal Plants Used in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality, Southern Ghana: An Ethnobotanical Study.

Kwame Appiah,Yoshiharu Fujii,Keisuke Katsura,Yosei Oikawa,Clement Oppong,Richard Omari,Siaw Onwona-Agyeman,Hossein Mardani,Sylvia Kpabitey,Christiana Amoatey

doi:10.3390/medicines6010001

Abstract

Background: The in-depth traditional knowledge of medicinal plants is at risk of extinction due to the dependency on oral transmission, and as such, there is an urgent need to document such knowledge. This study aimed to document indigenous uses of medicinal plants among community members in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality. Methods: Data was collected in 2016 from community members and local herbalists in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality through a semi-structured questionnaire. Statistical tools and ethnobotanical indices, i.e., informant consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), and use value (UV) were used to analyse the data. Results: One hundred and six medicinal plants belonging to 45 families were reported to cure 68 different human diseases. The most frequently used plant part in this study was the leaves (52%). Decoction (57.5%) and oral administration (58.3%) were the most utilised herbal preparation and administration route respectively. Cleistopholis patens had the highest UV (0.54) with pain & fevers and skin diseases having the highest ICF values (0.88 and 0.85 respectively). Furthermore, new medicinal uses of Hilleria latifolia and ten other species were recorded for the treatment of the traditional local disease, aseram. Conclusions: The current knowledge and uses of medicinal plants are still high in the study area based on the high degree of consensus among informants. This study could allow for the preservation of knowledge and biodiversity of medicinal plants, both of which are threatened with extinction.

Highlights

Human beings have depended on plants and their products directly for food, shelter, and clothing, and indirectly for their contribution to sustaining the ecosystem [1,2]
The majority of medicinal plants cited in this study were either weeds (34%) or species in the wild (29%)
The use of enema (29%) was a common recommendation among the respondents in the municipality

Summary

Introduction

Human beings have depended on plants and their products directly for food, shelter, and clothing, and indirectly for their contribution to sustaining the ecosystem [1,2]. The usage of medicinal plants was the primary approach to treating various ailments before the inception of Western medicine [1,3]. These medicinal plants are relatively freely available, resulting in an increasing demand for their utilisation to provide primary health care for many people [4,5,6]. This study aimed to document indigenous uses of medicinal plants among community members in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality. Conclusions: The current knowledge and uses of medicinal plants are still high in the study area based on the high degree of consensus among informants. This study could allow for the preservation of knowledge and biodiversity of medicinal plants, both of which are threatened with extinction

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Conclusion