Photo credit: Jacob Moutouama
By Jacob K. Moutouama and Orou G. Gaoue.
People worldwide use plant parts (leave, roots, flowers, bark, fruits) to treat diseases. Several studies suggest that the list of medicinal plants used in a given region is not random, and some plants are preferred to others because they are rich in bioactive elements, or they are most available to local people or are used for different purposes. In addition, previous studies hypothesized that closely related species are expected to have similar medicinal uses. We tested these hypotheses in West Africa around a protected area. We found that the use of medicinal plants around the protected area is not random and that some plant families tend to be more utilized than expected by chance. The plants that were the most used were not those with the highest number of bioactive elements or the most available to locals. Instead, the most utilized plants were the plants families containing species that can heal simultaneously several diseases. We also find that sister species tend not to be used for medicinal purposes. Together, our study reveals that the most used families in the region are not necessarily the ones with the most bioactive elements or the most available to local people, but rather could be the plants with the highest medicinal used value.
Relational Thinking 