Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used to treat human ailments in Woleqa, Betto, and Abay National Park and its vicinity, Northeast Ethiopia.
Habtamu B, Masresha G, Misganaw W, Tadesse D
Ethnobotany
Plants you might recognize — olive trees and African cordia — are being lost to farmland clearing in Ethiopia, taking with them centuries of healing knowledge that has never been written down until now.
In a corner of northeast Ethiopia, scientists interviewed 364 local people to learn which wild plants they use as medicine and how. They found 102 different healing plants, with leaves being the most-used part and most remedies taken by mouth. The bad news is that the most useful plants are disappearing fast due to farming expansion and wildfires, and the elders who know how to use them are a shrinking group.
Key Findings
102 medicinal plant species from 48 families were documented, with Fabaceae (8%), Asteraceae (7%), and Solanaceae (6%) being the most represented families.
Informant consensus factor (ICF) was highest for external injuries (0.89) and neurological disorders (0.86), indicating strong community agreement on plant treatments for these conditions.
Medicinal plant knowledge was significantly concentrated among key informants, men, older individuals, and those without formal education (p ≤ 0.001), signaling a fragile transmission chain.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers documented 102 medicinal plant species used by communities in a remote Ethiopian national park region, finding that traditional healing knowledge is threatened by deforestation and agricultural expansion — and that this knowledge is concentrated among older, male, and less formally educated community members.
Abstract Preview
Medicinal plants are central to primary healthcare and cultural identity, especially in remote areas with limited access to modern health services. Ethnomedicinal knowledge in the study area has no...
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Species Mentioned
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The olive is a species of subtropical evergreen tree in the family Oleaceae. Originating in Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean Basin, with wild subspecies in Africa and western Asia; modern cultivars are traced primarily to the Near East, Aegean Sea, and Strait of Gibraltar. ...