Ethnomedicinal Survey of Plant Species Traded for Medicinal Purposes in Kaduna, Nigeria and Their Conservation Status

Abstract

People in local communities in developing nations of the world still use traditional medicine to solve their health problems especially those that don’t have access to basic medical facilities. And plants which are commonly used for such medicinal purposes need some conservation management to prevent significant decline in their population. In this study survey of samples used by herbal traders for managing different diseases in Kaduna, Nigeria was carried out. Forty eight herbal traders were consulted in this area to find out plant species which are used for traditional medicine, what kind of diseases they are used for and their mode of administration. Eighteen plant species belonging to twelve families were mentioned by herbal traders interviewed. Fourteen different diseases have been mentioned being treated by the recorded 18 medicinal plants. The plant parts used mostly are the leaves with most of the plants administered orally to the patients. But despite that these plant species are widely used in this area, there has been no conservation assessment for any of these species at national or local level, and only few of them appeared on IUCN (International Union of Conservation of Nature) Red List. This study recommends a national assessment of these plant species for conservation purpose and the same assessment should also be done for other plant species which have been used as traditional medicine in Nigeria for centenaries.