Ecological Knowledge of indigenous plants among the Marakwet Community (Embobut Basin), Elgeyo Marakwet County (Kenya)

Abstract

TraditionalplantknowledgeandusesofmedicinalwildplantswereinvestigatedamongtheMarakwetcommunityinKenya.Datawere collected through interviews with seven traditional healers and 157 questionnaires for local community members. Tra-ditional names oftheplantsbytraditional healersandlocal communitymembers wereprepared asa checklist.Lossof traditionalmedicinal names of plants was ascertained with up to 60% overlapping in their nomenclature. ,e traditional medicinal plantstreated 41 diseases within the region, of which local community members understood common ones for treating stomachache(94.8%), diarrhea (70.7%), chest problems (65.5%), and typhoid (63.8%). It was also clear that there was low knowledge index ofmedicinal plants by the local community members (23.6%) based on knowledge of traditional healers. Clearly, medicinal plantsfor treatment of malaria, diabetes, tetanus, and pneumonia were recognized by over 40% of the local community members, whileplants treating arteriosclerosis,meningitis, arthritis, trachoma,smallpox, rheumaticfever,and goutwere knownby lessthan 10%of the respondents. Among plants, the use of roots for treatment was known by over 67% of the local community memberscompared to fruits, bark, bulb, and flowers (<10%). ,is low traditional medicinal knowledge in a community relies on thetraditional medicinal plants, calling for an urgent need to document the information and perpetuate this knowledge from onegenerationtoanother.,iscanbeachievedbycollectingtheinformationanddevelopingadatabaseofmedicinalplantsforfutureresearch and potential development of new drugs