Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants in Metropolitan Kano, Nigeria
[1]
Salisu Mohammed, Department of Geography, Bayero University Kano, Kano, Nigeria.
[2]
Muhammad Nuraddeen Danjuma, Department of Geography, Bayero University Kano, Kano, Nigeria.
[3]
Ishaq Aliyu Abdulkarim, Department of Geography, Bayero University Kano, Kano, Nigeria.
Medicinal plants have been observed to be very effective in the treatment of ailments in both rural and urban areas in developing countries. Despite this, only few people value the plants around them due to inadequate knowledge of their usefulness. In this study, common plants used by the people of Metropolitan Kano Nigeria were classified based on their locations, types and uses. The study is a survey research in which a total of 36 respondents were purposively drawn from the population of 120 inventoried individuals (herbalists) in six local governments that makes up the metropolitan Kano. Using the purposive technique, 6 individuals were selected as respondents in each local government area of the metropolitan Kano based on the years spent in traditional healing in the area. A total of 6 respondents were drawn in each local government because observations show similar demographic characteristics and trends in the metropolis. The respondents were interviewed using 12 semi-structured questions in 6 interview schedules in 2013. The respondents revealed that all 29 inventoried trees of the area are used for various medicinal applications. It was further depicted that most of the plants used for treating ailments were sourced from the wild, while some were cultivated in the gardens. Reports on conservation show that most plants were wantonly destroyed as a result of in proper management. However, in order to sustain the practice of traditional medicine as a subsystem of the health regime, it is imperative to encourage the cultivation of these fast disappearing and endangered plants by all as a quick way of initiating short-term conservation measure, while awaiting longer policies embedded in the realms of legislation.
Medicinal Plants, Traditional Medicine, Metropolitan Kano
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