TITLE:
Gastrointestinal Ulcers Treatment: Plants and Recipes Used by Herbalists of Abomey-Calavi and Cotonou Districts, Southern Benin
AUTHORS:
Brice Dangnon, Durand Dah-Nouvlessounon, Sêmassa Mohamed Ismaël Hoteyi, Abdelmalick Abdelrahman, Moubachar Abdelkerim Mahamat, Nicodème Worou Chabi, Sina Haziz, Farid Baba-Moussa, Adolphe Adjanohoun, Lamine Baba-Moussa
KEYWORDS:
Gastrointestinal Ulcer, Ethnomedicine, Herbalist, Nature, Plant Material
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.15 No.9,
September
11,
2024
ABSTRACT: This study set out to identify plants and recipes used by herbalists in the municipalities of Abomey-Calavi and Cotonou to treat gastrointestinal ulcers and to characterize the distribution of their knowledge. An ethno-pharmacological survey was carried out in which informants who agreed freely were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 85 herbalists were surveyed. The data were processed with Microsoft Excel to calculate the relative frequencies of citation of the various species mentioned by the herbalists and various indices including Simpson’s Index were adapted to test the distribution of their knowledge. Multiple regression and correspondence analysis were performed using R studio. Our results revealed that the Dendi, Ifè and Mina, all equitable in their knowledge of anti-ulcer plants, are likely to know more than the other ethnic groups. On the other hand, respondents practicing Islam are more likely to know many antiulcer plants than those practicing Vodoun and Christianity. This constant distribution of knowledge of anti-ulcer plants among the Dendi, Ifè and Mina, three different ethnic groups seems normal and attests to the fusion between these different ethnic groups in view of this knowledge. A total of 70 anti-ulcer recipes, made from 71 species of medicinal plants or non-floristic resources were recorded. Vitellaria paradoxa, Parkia biglobosa and Ocimum gratissimum were the top 03 most frequently cited in descending order of frequency. All the species cited are grouped into 44 botanical families among which the Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Sapotaceae were strongly represented. Benin’s flora abounds in a diversity of medicinal plant species known to herbalists in Abomey-Calavi and Cotonou for the treatment of gastrointestinal ulcers. The results of this study constitute a good archive for the selection of plant species for in-depth studies with a view to formulating improved traditional medicines for gastrointestinal ulcers.