Vascular Plant Diversity and Ethnobotany of Medicinal and Wild Edible Plants in Baso Liben and Debre Elias Districts, East Gojjam Zone of Amhara Region, Northwestern Ethiopia
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020-06-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The natural vegetation of the remnant patches are suffering from anthropogenic factors resulting in declining and loss of useful plants, and linked knowledge. Thus, the study was undertaken with the objective of providing documentation and analysis of vascular plant diversity in forest patches along with ethnobotanical study of traditional medicinal and wild edible plants (WEPs), used by the people inhabiting Baso Liben (BL) and Debre Elias (DE) districts, northwestern Ethiopia. Ninety-two (92) plots (20 m 20 m each) were laid along preferentially established transect lines for trees at every 100 m elevational drop and 5 m 5 m and 1 m 1 m subplots for shrubs and herbs, respectively. Each plant species encountered in each plot was recorded and identified. Woody plant species with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥2.5 cm were counted. A total of 394 (272 males and 122 females) respondents of which 310 general informants and 84 key informants participated in answering the semi-structured questions. Primary ethnobotanical data were collected using a guided field walk, semi-structured interviews, 10 focus group discussions (FGDs) comprising seven to 12 informants, free listing, photograph recordings and market surveys. Frequency, density and structure of the forest patches were computed using descriptive statistical tools. Furthermore, Shannon diversity index was used to compute species richness and evenness between the plant communities. Likewise, the ethnobotanical data were assessed quantitatively using various measures like informant consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), use-value (UV), Jaccard's coefficient of similarity (JCS), Relative frequency of citation (RFC), pair-wise comparisons, direct matrix and preference rankings. One-way ANOVA and t-test were also employed. The results revealed that 317 plant species under 234 genera in 95 families were documented from the six patches. Of these, 256 and 275 species were collected from the BL and DE districts, respectively. Of all species encountered in the patches, 137 (43%) were cited for use in traditional herbal medicine. The most commonly represented family was Asteraceae with 37 (12%) species. The hierarchical classification resulted in five plant community types, namely Croton macrostachyus-Accia abyssinica, Vernonia auriculifera-Maytenus arbutifolia, Juniperus procera-Albizia schimperiana, Acacia seyal-Hyparrhenia rufa and Anogeissus leiocarpa-Tamarindus indica. The overall Shannon-Wiener diversity index and evenness of the patches were 3.13 and 0.98, respectively. The density and basal area were found to have 1,952 stems ha-1 and 75 m2 ha-1, respectively. The highest IVI value was recorded for Croton macrostachyus (16). The results of ethnobotanical study revealed that altogether 172 species belonging to 157 genera and 82 families were recorded in the category of human and livestock medicines. Of these, 153 (53%) (133 from BL; 126 from DE) are merely ethnomedicinal plants, 81 (37%) (65 from BL; 57 from DE) ethnoveterinary plants. The most commonly represented families in the medicinal flora were Asteraceae with 13 (8%) species followed by Fabaceae and Solanaceae with 9 (5%) species each. Herbs were the most widely used growth forms, which accounted for 42 (45%) species. The most frequently used plant parts were the leaves (livestock, 43%; human, 38%) in both districts. Most of the remedies were prepared from fresh materials in the form of infusion (livestock, 39%) and decoction (human, 20%). The highest ICF score for external and internal parasites (livestock ailments) was 0.85 in BL followed by dermatological diseases (human) (ICF = 0.84) in DE District. The highest FL values were recorded for Senna singueana (96%) against snakebite and acute febrile illness. Overall, 52 WEPs belonging to 44 genera and 35 families were recorded in the entire study area. Trees accounted for the highest growth forms with 22 spp. followed by shrubs (16 spp.). Of the families, Moraceae was represented by 5 (10%) species followed by Rosaceae with 4 (8%) species. Fruits were the most dominant edible parts, accounted for 38 (73%) species and eaten mainly raw. The local community has preferences for a few WEPs over the others. This study revealed that 58 and 49 of the useful species have been cited as multiple uses and nutraceuticals, respectively. Croton macrostachyus had the highest UV (5), followed by Vernonia amygdalina and Cordia africana with UV 5 each. These species with other high recorded use-values including Tamarindus indica, Juniperus procera and Ficus sur should be given priority for conservation. Based on group discussions and pair-wise ranking, the major threats to medicinal and WEPs in the study area were agricultural expansion (42 citations, 19%) followed by overgrazing (39 citations, 17%). Due to these human-induced factors, forest patches comprising Croton macrostachyus-Acacia abyssinica community type (holds 213 spp.) that harbour many medicinal (102 spp.) and WEPs (35 spp.) were under huge threats. Hence, there is an urgent call for encouraging and supporting sustainable use, conservation and management of the vascular plants together with the medicinal and WEPs, and the ethnobotanical knowledge and practices.
Description
Keywords
Ethnobotany, Fidelity Level, Floristic Composition, Medicinal Plants, Threats, Wild Edible Plants