Medicinal plants used for eye disorders and chest pains in the Limpopo province, South Africa Semenya Sebua Silas1, Maroyi Alfred2* 1Technology Transfer Office, Research Administration and Development Department, University of Limpopo, Sovenga, South Africa 2Department of Botany, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice, 5700, South Africa *Corresponding author e-mail: amaroyi@ufh.ac.za
Online published on 18 January, 2021. Abstract Use of herbal medicines to treat and manage eye disorders and chest pains is a common practice in tropical Africa. This study was aimed at documenting medicinal plants used for treating eye disorders and chest pains in the Limpopo province, South Africa. Purposive sampling and snowball techniques were used to select 240 traditional healers who participated in this study carried out between May and October 2017. A semi-structured questionnaire complemented by direct observations were used to collect ethnobotanical data on medicinal plants used to treat eye disorders and chest pains. The questionnaire was designed to document information on plant species used, their local name(s), part(s) used, methods of preparation, administration and dosage. A total of 39 plant species from 27 botanical families were used. Families Asteraceae and Malvaceae (four species each), Euphorbiaceae and Hyacinthaceae (three species each) were the most represented. Majority of species (54.2%) were used for chest pains and the rest for eye disorders (45.8%). The most commonly used plant parts for herbal preparations were roots (51.0%) and whole plant (15.0%). Altogether, 48 herbal remedies were noted, majority (68.8%) were prepared from a single plant species, dispensed either orally, nasally under blanket or topically. The extracts from some of the documented plants have potential anti-inflammatory properties and can therefore, can be used against the disorders. Top Keywords Chest pain, Eye pain, Medicinal plants, South Africa, Traditional healers. Top |