Traditional Medicinal Plants Of Nigeria: An Overview

AGRICULTURE AND BIOLOGY JOURNAL OF NORTH AMERICAISSN Print: 2151-7517, ISSN Online: 2151-7525, doi:10.5251/abjna.2016.7.5.220.247 2016, ScienceHuβ, http://www.scihub.org/ABJNATraditional medicinal plants of Nigeria: an overviewMonier M. Abd El-Ghani12*1Biology Department, Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, Umaru, Musa Yar’adua University,Katsina State, Federal Republic of Nigeria2Permanent Address: Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of science, Cairo University,Giza 12613, EgyptCorresponding author:monierabdelghani@yahoo.comABSTRACTThe present study represents an attempt to document information on the traditional medicinalplants that used in Nigeria. A compiled check list of these plants including their Latin names,families, parts used, medicinal uses, and name in different Nigerian states is the main purpose ofthis study. All available information about either the traditional medicinal plants or ethnobotanicalsurveys in Nigeria was consulted. The study showed that 325 species and 95 families ofmedicinal plants were recognized as being used by most of the people in Nigeria for thetreatment of various common diseases. Fabaceae has the largest number of species (42),followed by Asteraceae (22), Euphorbiaceae (20), Acanthaceae (13) and Apocynaceae (12). Thelargest genera were Euphorbia (6 species), Cola and Hibiscus (5 species for each), Albizia,Acacia, Combretum and Ficus (4 species for each), Acalypha, Allium, Clerodendrum and Cleome(3 species for each). The study revealed that traditional medicinal practices have a wideacceptability among the Nigerian people, probably because they believe in its effectiveness. Themedicinal uses are varied, and the plant parts that are used ranged from leaves, roots, stem, barkto fruits only, or a combination of two or more in a species or with those of other species.Enduring and sustainable conservation efforts should be implemented to safeguard theseimportant medicinal plants.Keywords: Ethnomedicine, diversity, distribution, traditional healers, NigeriaINTRODUCTIONMedicinal plants constitute an effective source of bothtraditional and modern medicine. These plants havebeen shown to have genuine utility and about 80% ofthe rural population depends on them as primaryhealth care (Akinyemi, 2000). Plants have been usedas sources of remedies for the treatment of manydiseases since ancient times and people of allcontinents especially Africa have this old tradition.Despite the remarkable progress in synthetic organicmedicinal products of the twentieth century, over 25%of prescribed medicines in industrialized countriesare derived directly or indirectly from plants (Newmanet al., 2000). However, plants used in traditionalmedicine are still understudied (Kirby, 1996). Indeveloping countries, notably in West Africa, newdrugs are not often affordable. Thus, up to 80% of thepopulation uses medicinal plants as remedies (Kirby,1996; Hostellmann and Marston, 2002).According to the World Health Organization (WHO)the definition of traditional medicine may besummarized as the sum total of all the knowledgeand practical, whether explicable or not, used in thediagnosis, prevention and elimination of physical,mental or social imbalance and relying exclusively onpractical experience and observation handed downfrom generation to generation, whether verbally or inwriting. Traditional medicine might also beconsidered as a solid amalgamation of dynamicmedical known-how and ancestral experience. InAfrica, traditional healers and remedies made fromplants play an important role in the health of millionsof people. Traditional medicine has been describedby the WHO as one of the surest means to achievetotal health care coverage of the world’s population.Numerous medicines have been derived from theknowledge of tropical forest people and clearly therewill be more in the future. This alone is reasonenough for any and all programs to be concernedwith the conservation, development, and protection oftropical forest regions.It has been estimated that in developed countriessuch as United States, plant drugs constitute asmuch as 25% of the total drugs, while in fastdeveloping countries such as China and India, the

Agric. Biol. J. N. Am., 2016, 7(5): 220-247contribution is as much as 80%. Thus, the economicimportance of medicinal plants is much more tocountries such as India than to rest of the world.These countries provide two third of the plants usedin modern system of medicine and the health caresystem of rural population depend on indigenoussystems of medicine. Of the 2, 500,000 higher plantspecies on earth, more than 80,000 are medicinal.India is one of the world’s 12 biodiversity centres withthe presence of over 45000 different plant species.2002; Cox, 2005; Kumar et al., 2005; Pei, 2005). Butin Nigeria, very little information about ethnobotanicalstudies has been documented (Gill, 1992; Sofowora,1993; Igoli et al., 1999). Therefore the need forproper documentation of traditional medicinalpractices among the people in Nigeria where therehas been a dearth of published information isimmediately called for and this accounts for therationale to undertake the present study.This study represents an attempt to documentinformation on the traditional medicinal plants used inNigeria. A compiled check list of these plantsincluding their Latin names, families, part used, uses,and name in different Nigerian states is the mainpurpose of this study. The documentation ofmedicinal uses of African plants is becomingincreasingly urgent because of the rapid loss of thenatural habitat for some of these plants due toanthropogenic activities.The use of traditional medicine in various therapiesby the indigenous population over the world cannotbe overemphasized, according to the World HealthOrganization (WHO), as many as 80% of the world'speople depend on traditional medicine for theirprimary healthcare needs. Due to poverty, ignoranceand unavailability of modern health facilities, mostpeople especially rural people are still forced topractice traditional medicines for their common dayailments, most of these people form the poorest linkin the trade of medicinal plants (Khan, 2002). A vastknowledge of how to use the plants against differentillnesses may be expected to have accumulated inareas where the use of plants is still of greatimportance (Diallo et al., 1999). In the developedcountries, 25 per cent of the medical drugs are basedon plants and their derivatives (Principe, 1991).MATERIALS AND METHODSAll available information about either the traditionalmedicinal plants or ethnobotanical surveys in Nigeria(Fig. 1) was consulted. Data obtained were collectedand tabulated to give the botanical names, commonnames, families and the vernacular names of thevarious plant species as well as their uses and thepart(s) used. A total of 325 plants species wereencountered in this study. Their names in the variouslanguages, families, uses and part(s) being used areshown in Table 1.Classification of the collected dataaccording to the diseases for which these plants usedto.During the past decade, traditional medicinalpractices have become a topic of global relevance. Inmany developing nations, a significant number ofindigenous populations rely on medicinal plants tomeet their health care needs. According to Lewis andElvin-Lewis (2003), botanically derived medicinalshave played a major role in human societiesthroughout history and prehistory and people haveused plants as medicine since the beginning ofcivilization, as they were believed to have healingpowers (Connie and King, 2003). The use of plants inthe tropical and subtropical regions is diversified andmost of the uses are for medicine, source of food,clothing and shelter. But the medicinal uses of plantsare rapidly declining among the present generation oflocal people as a consequence of modernization andcivilization (Cox, 2005). The younger generation isshowing little interest in learning this valuable scienceof healing. Usage of medicinal plants to curediseases has also been much influenced by religiouspractices (Trease and Evans, 1989; Wambebe,1999). All over the world, several ethnobotanicalstudies focusing on medicinal plants have beendocumented (Ekpendu et al., 1998; Balansard andTimon, 2000; Singh and Singh, 2001; Wang et al.,RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONPlant species belonging to 325 species and 95families were recognized as being used by most ofthe people in Nigeria for the treatment of variouscommon diseases. Table (1) showed the list of thespecies, botanical name, local name, uses and partsused. Some of these plants are cultivated by thepeople themselves while others grow in the wild. Ofthe 95 different families which the people of this221

Agric. Biol. J. N. Am., 2016, 7(5): 220-247Table 1: List of the species, botanical name, local names, parts used, and uses.FamiliesSpeciesLocal namesPart usedMedicinal usesAcanthus montanusUrunhishiStem-twig, leavesSyphilis,cough,emenic,urethral dischrgeFruits, whole plantRhumatism,antiinflammatoyAcanthaceaeAdhatoda buchhoiziiAsysasia calycianaOroleLeavesskin diseases,weak erection,Asysasia gangeticalobiri,inana,ntiaturuwhole plantsnake antidote,piles,urethral dischargeBarleria opacaArenikosunleavesjaundice,laxatives,snake bite,hemorrhoidsBarleria maderaspatensisewe-asaju,ewe-isajuwhole plantsnake bite antidoteHygrophila auriculatamafowa,bayingiwawhole plantcraw-craw,bacteriostaticHypostes forskaleiOgbigbowhole plant,rootsskin infectionsHypostes vertillarisEkerewhole plant,leavessore,fever,antiseptic,chest painsJusticia flavaodian,oridunwhole plantfungal skin diseases,malaria,stomachdisordersJusticia insularisisepe-akerawhole plantmeasles,mallpoxNelsonia compestriadandun-makiyayaleaves,juice,twigsyellow fever,inflammation,schistosomiasisPhaulopsis falcisepalaApa-ogbewhole plantwounds,skin parasites,laxativeAchyranthes sperahakorin macijileaves,rootsstomach disorders,abortion,malariaAlternantheras repensDagunrowhole as selsilismaikai dubuwhole plant,leavessnake antidote,piles, astrigent, antibacterialAmaranthus spinosusNanijingasayawhole plantabdominal pain,ulcers,gonorrhoealeaves, cAmaranthaceaeAmaranthus viridis222

Agric. Biol. J. N. Am., 2016, 7(5): 220-247FamiliesSpeciesLocal namesPart usedMedicinal usesCelosia laxaMannafaaleavesantiscorbutic, purgativeCelosia argentafara-layatuleaves, seedsskin eshernia,inflammationPhiloxerus vermiculatusAnacardiaceaeAnacardium antiasis,leprosy,ringwormsAntocaryon micrasterifa-okete,egin-agboleaves,fruitsgeneral toxic,laxativeHaematostaphis barterijan danyastem,bark,rootemenic,tonic,hepatitis,sleeping sicknesHeeria thelminthics,aphoradisiac,galactagogueIsolana campanulataAghakezeroot,stem,barkbrochial infetions,skin diseases,hematuriaMangifera indicaMangoroleaves,roots,stem,barkhighblood pressure,skin lesions,insomniaMonodora ,skin diseasesAnnoa squamosaSharp -sharp,mbugo agoLeaves,fruit,stemAnaemia,dysentery,ulcer,anti -tumorAnnona sanegalensis Root,bark,leaves,seedCancer,cough,veneral diseasesAnoridium manniEwuro olis paternsApakoLeaves,barkRespiratory diseases,turberculosisEnantia chloranthaOsopupa,kakerimBarkTyphoid eolensAgudugburoots,leaves,barkEasy labour,weak erectileHexalobus crispifloruslapawe, apara, oji ogodaroots, whole plantgonorrhoea, cough, malariaMonodora uinea wormsAnnonaceae223