An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Amaro Woreda, Ethiopia

Abstract

An ethnobotanical study was conducted in Amaro Wereda, Southern Nations Nationalities and peoples Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia. The objective was to document indigenous knowledge of the people on the use of medicinal plants and investigate plant species that are used as medicines for the treatment of human health problems, document indigenous knowledge for the conservation of biological and cultural diversities and threatening factors of plant species. Vegetation data was collected along with ethnobotanical information from purposefully selected areas of the wereda. A total of 17 traditional healers with most of them aged from 28 to 70 years from different parts of the wereda were purposefully selected and information was collected through the use of questionnaires and personal interviews during field trips in the Korre ethnic group from August to December 2012. Descriptive analysis was made for the data collected. A total of 56 plant species were reported by traditional healers of the Korre ethnic groups for their medicinal uses, representing 52 genera and 32 families. The majority (76.8%) were wild. Of the plants, 21 were herbs (37.5%) and 19 shrubs (34%). Thirty-one human ailments were identified by the traditional healers of the study area. Leaves constituted 33 % of the total uses followed by roots (27 %). Fifty seven percent of the healer remedies were applied through oral tract while 23% were applied on the skin. The Korre plants were the ones with the highest fidelity level (FL) values, an indication of their high healing potential. Priority should, therefore, be given to these plants to test their efficacy and their toxicity. Conservation priority should be given for identified threatened medicinal plants, promoting in-situ and ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants in Korre community of Amaro wereda.