An ethnobotanical study of African traditional medicinal plants in the Heritage Park of the North West Province
Abstract
South Africa has an extraordinary diversity of plant species, couple with a rich cultural tradition and knowledge of plant use for healing various aliments in both people and animals. The value and potential of medicinal plants as an affordable remedy against diseases, as well as being a source of new drugs is well documented worldwide. ln South Africa it is estimated that up to 60% of the population consult traditional healers and depend on African Traditional Medicine (A TM) as their primary source of health care. Despite the increasing acceptance of A TM in South Africa, there exist a significant gap in the documentation of indigenous knowledge in the North West Province, and only a few ethnobotanical studies have been published. The documentation of plants used as A TM is important in that the knowledge can be preserved and the plants conserved for sustainable utilization. The aim of this study was therefore to document the indigenous ethnobotanical knowledge on the conservation and the sustainable utilization of medicinal plants for African Traditional Medicine (ATM) by the community of Molatedi village in the North West Province. The village is located within a Heritage Park that is under the North West Parks and Tourism Board
(NWP&TB) management as a protected area. The in situ conservation approach used by the board was meant to stop the degradation that was occurring in the area. It is however known that the knowledge of names, growth distribution and abundance of medicinal plants species is vital for their effective use and conservation. The objectives of the study were thus to document the indigenous knowledge associated with the utilization and conservation strategies of medicinal plants in the Heritage Park, and to explore the community ethnobotanical knowledge of the medicinal plants within the Heritage Park. Due to the cultural sensitivity of indigenous knowledge, the study adopted and used an indigenous research approach. The new Matrix Method according to De beer and Van Wyk (2011) was adopted as the quantitative methodology which was used in the study to reveal the Ethobotanical Knowledge Index (EKI) and Species Popularity Index (SPI) in Molatedi village. Three indigenous theories that underpinned the study were Afrocentrism, Ubuntu and postcolonial theories. From the target group members of the community who were willing to participate A sample size for in-depth interviews determined from a target group of ten (10) consisted of seven (7) who were willing and eventually only five (5) traditional healers were and also able to participate in the study. The sample size for Matrix Method consisted of three age categories as determined by the target population. Within each category, individuals were randomly selected to give the following sample size: five (5) senior citizens; five (5) adults; and six (6) youth. The sample size for the learning cycle (focus group discussions) was determined by the availability of both traditional healers and knowledge holders. Therefore nine (9) participants consisting of traditional healers and knowledge holders availed themselves
during focus group discussion meetings. A QUAL-quan mixed method design was used with in-depth interviews, participant observation and focus group discussion as methods for data collection. The data were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Results of the qualitative study found thirty-eight (38) species belonging to twenty (20) different families were used for traditional medicine to treat fourty nine ( 49) various conditions. The study also found five (5) indigenous traditional medicine preparation methods and nine (9) indigenous conservation strategies to conserve the medicinal plants. Furthermore the study discovered that thirty-nine percent (39%) of medicinal plants could treat more than one disease. Such multi-use plants were Artemisia Tridentata which can treat stomach ache and eyes, Aloe
zebrine Bark which can treat blood disease and sores on the skin, Lycium sp whose roots can treat blood related diseases and dizziness and the leaves can treat baby fontanel. Ethnobotanical Knowledge Index (EKI) and the Species Popularity Index (SPI) (range Oto 1) were calculated according to the formulae proposed by De Beer and Van Wyk (2011) to express the knowledge of participants, and the popularity of the species. Interestingly, a comparison of the ethnobotanical knowledge index (EKI) amongst the different age groups within the study community revealed that senior citizens had lower EKI values (0.55) compared to adults (0.65) and youth (0.58) suggesting that it was the adults who possessed more knowledge than the
other groups. The medicinal plant in Molatedi with the highest SPI value were found to be Drimia altissima (Mogaga) (SPI=l) and the medicinal plant with the lowest SPI was Hibiscus micranthus L.f. var micranthus (Motlhagala) (SPI = 0.13) The study concluded that indigenous knowledge of African Traditional medicine is vital to the community of Molatedi village in treating various diseases and ailments suffered by members
of the community. Ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plants is a rich heritage embedded within the community of Molatedi village and both the traditional helaers and knowledge holders are recognised as useful to the community. Additional studies were recommend on the documentation of medicinal plants for African Traditional Medicine because of the realisation that this subject cannot be exhausted from a single study.
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