The biodiversity of Pondoland, including its medicinal plants, faces a number of different threats. Population pressure is a widespread threat and croplands from farming can often expand into virgin veld. Too frequent veld fires used to burn old dry grass in the sourveld for better grazing is another challenge. Pondoland has also not escaped widespread alien plant invasion.
Medicinal plants of Pondoland
The proposed new botanical garden aims to save and protect these endemic species, as well as showcasing them to visitors so they can be seen all in one place. Part of the project would comprise a nursery to grow and process medicinal plants. This would create jobs for local people by supplying the local market.
The satisfaction that an area formally declared as a nature reserve is relatively safe given the constant decline of our grasslands and seeing a land custodian realise that they have special plants on their property and then take pride in them is incredibly rewarding. I also enjoyed mentoring field rangers in botanical skills at a community owned stewardship site.
The Botanical Society is actively involved in grassland conservation through the Biodiversity Stewardship programme. It focuses specifically on the conservation of botanically important sites with high levels of threatened and endemic plant diversity, as well as endangered vegetation types such as Sandstone Sourveld and mist belt grasslands and has so far successfully proclaimed three nature reserves in KZN and is currently involved with a number of other sites under negotiation. BotSoc also provides valuable botanical input to the KZN BDS programme, assisting with the assessment of potential sites and, together with CREW, providing input on threatened plants.
Despite being poisonous and causing mouth ulcers when ingested, members of the genus have a significant variety of different medicinal uses. It is considered to be the plant of fertility and pregnancy. In Xhosa culture a necklace of the roots is worn as a charm to bring healthy, strong babies into the world. Zulu people use the plant in the treatment of heart disease, coughs, colds and chest pain. It is also used to ward off thunder by those scared of thunderstorms. It is also sometimes used as a love charm.
Urban development in the hotspot is limited but has led to complete transformation of habitat, leaving only small isolated fragments and grossly disrupted ecosystem functioning in the form of elevated soil erosion into freshwater systems, extreme loss of habitat and species, and expansion of invasive alien species. Cities in the hotspot, particularly Durban, Port Elizabeth and Maputo have a high impact on natural habitats in and around them due to urban sprawl, pollutant run-off and poor waste management. In the informal areas surrounding cities, there is often high demand and dependency on products from natural systems such as fuel wood and charcoal, wildlife and plant products, and medicinal plants.
Wandering about for a week admiring plants, rocks, birds and the moon is my idea of heaven. When the wandering takes place in the Pondoland Centre of Endemism accompanied by bio-cultural diversity enthusiast Sinegugu Zukulu, it is as close to paradise as I can get.
The Pondoland-Ugu Sandstone Coastal Sourveld is a vegetation type found in South Africa within the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt Biome. This vegetation type is characterised by grassland species, with some scattered low shrubs and small trees. There are about 100 important medicinal plant species that occur in the Pondoland-Ugu Sandstone Coastal Sourveld.
Geoxylic suffrutices (these are plants which have enlarged and woody structures beneath the surface of the ground), according to Mucina et al. (2006) there is only one endemic, Searsia acocksii, which is listed as Near Threatened by the Red List of South African Plants.
Graminoids (refers to herbaceous plants without grass like features or morphology) these include (Cymbopogon nardus, Themeda triandra), important herbs (Chaetacanthus burchellii, Cyanotis speciosa, which is dominant and known as Umagoswana in one of the native languages), geophytic herbs (e.g. Brachystelma tenellum, Eriospermum mackenii), low shrubs (e.g. Gnidia nodiflora, Polygala hottentotta), small trees (Euryops brevipapposus, Syzygium cordatum) and semiparasitic shrubs (e.g. Thesium acutissimum, Thesium cupressoides).
Abstract. Mukaila YO, Oladipo OT, Arogundade OO, Ajao AA-N. 2022. Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used in Ile-Ife, Southwestern Nigeria. Asian J Ethnobiol 5: 71-83. The invaluable importance of traditional herbal medicine has necessitated systematic documentation of medicinal knowledge. This study documented medicinal plants used by the inhabitants of Ile-Ife. Ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 70 informants. The interview focused on the local names of the plants, medicinal uses, plant parts used, where the plants are sourced, and methods of preparation. The data collected were analyzed and compared with previous studies using quantitative indices. The conservation statuses of the recorded plants were retrieved from IUCN online database. Eighty-seven (87) medicinal plants from 43 families were implicated to be used in Ile-Ife from our survey. Euphorbiaceae was the most implicated family with eight species; herbs (36%) were the dominant plant habit, and the leaf (46%) was the most frequently used plant part. The informants preferred decoction (37%) as the method of preparation. Over 50% of the plants were collected from the wild. The conservation status of the 26 implicated plants in this study has been accessed, 17 plants fall under the least concern (LC) category, while five species are vulnerable (VU). The study highlights the need to intensify studies on the conservation of medicinal plants and also provides baseline data for future pharmacological and phytochemical studies while preserving the cultural medicinal practices of Ile-Ife.
The problem of environmental pollution is a global concern as it affects the entire ecosystem. There is a cyclic revolution of pollutants from industrial waste or anthropogenic sources into the environment, farmlands, plants, livestock and subsequently humans through the food chain. Most of the toxic metal cases in Africa and other developing nations are a result of industrialization coupled with poor effluent disposal and management. Due to widespread mining activities in South Africa, pollution is a common site with devastating consequences on the health of animals and humans likewise. In recent years, talks on toxic metal pollution had taken center stage in most scientific symposiums as a serious health concern. Very high levels of toxic metals have been reported in most parts of South African soils, plants, animals and water bodies due to pollution. Toxic metals such as Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb), Aluminium (Al), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn) and Arsenic (As) are major mining effluents from tailings which contaminate both the surface and underground water, soil and food, thus affecting biological function, endocrine systems and growth. Environmental toxicity in livestock is traceable to pesticides, agrochemicals and toxic metals. In this review, concerted efforts were made to condense the information contained in literature regarding toxic metal pollution and its implications in soil, water, plants, animals, marine life and human health.
It was a large group of women with exception to one man who was their interpreter and in our C.R.E.W. group the one man was our Graham who joined us with Kate for the morning. It was lovely to be re-united. For the number of women that had congregated it was very quiet and there was a great sense of peace amongst us with the one great commonality being our love for plants.
This was to our surprise for we knew there to be medicinal plants and felt quite pleased that the plants had drawn no attention. We had seen from past excursions that plants in this area had been dug out and always wondered what the plant was that was removed in its entirety. We had had often seen signs of the muti-market trade as the Albizia adianthifolia was one of their favorites and seemed which they seemed to take strips of bark on a regular go-to basis. This tree is used as a purgative and herbal medicine for numerous reasons some being reproductive problems in women, skin diseases and sexually transmitted infections...
Some of the plants that the inyangas showed an interest in was Helinus intergrifolius It is used as ritual body wash and an emetic and believed to bring good luck with positive results. It is also an "ubulawu" (dream-inducing) plant used by some in rituals to facilitate communication with ancestors.
Clematis brachiata's medicinal use is equally as long with the leaves that can be stuffed into shoes to ease blisters, aches and pains. The leaves can be placed underneath the saddle of a horse to prevent sores and fresh leaves can be placed under one's hat to keep the wearer cool and protects one against the harsh effects of the sun. What a plant! A tea can be made using the leaves so ease headaches, coughs and colds, chest ailments and abdominal upsets. This tea can also be used as a soothing wash for aching feet, soothes cracked skin, blisters and once cooled it can be used as an eyewash for tired red eyes. Using boiling water and poured over the roots, stems and leaves and the steam inhaled is eases colds, sinus infections, asthma and malaria. If one places the leaves, stem, flowers and seeds into one's bath and lie in it to soak is helps ease aching muscles. What a go-to plant to have!
The biggest threat facing the natural vegetation is the spread of invasive exotic plants, including Chromolaena odorata and guava. Outside of reserves, major impacts on the environment have come from large-scale afforestation with exotic Pinus and Eucalyptus species. Clearing for slash and burn subsistence farming is widespread and increasing. Swamp forest is highly favoured for its fertile and moist soils, and has already been heavily impacted by commercial banana and local cash crop farming, even within the Coastal Forest Reserve. Several plant species are highly threatened by over-utilization, such as the Warburgia salutaris, a highly sought after medicinal plant, now almost extinct in the wild. Virtually all game animals outside of reserves have been eliminated by hunting, and poaching within reserves is common. 2ff7e9595c
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