Ethno-medicinal evaluation of herbaceous plants in the Guineo-Congolese zone of Benin

Abstract

In Benin, knowledge about herbaceous medicinal plants is not as popular as is woody species despite, they could be used to alleviate the pressure on the woodies ones. This study proposes (i) to identify the main medicinal herbaceous plants in the phytogeographical districts of the Guineo-Congolese zone of Benin and (ii) to evaluate the effect of socio-environmental factors such as age, gender, religion, ethnicity, level of education, and phytogeographical district. Individual and semi-structured interviews with 310 people were carried out on medicinal herbaceous species. Medicinal use values ??(UV) and relative citation frequencies for each species were determined. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney inference tests were performed to test the effect of socio-environmental factors. A total of 93 herbaceous plants grouped into 40 families and 83 botanical genera were identified with a significant effect on gender, religion, ethnicity, and level of education of which the most cited plants are Momordica charantia, Chromolaena adoratta, Cassia occidentalis, Heliotropium indicum, Physalis angulata, Parquetina nigrescens, Pupalia lappacea, Alternanthera repens, Hyptis suaveolens, Acanthospermum hispidum,Argemone mexicana, Aspilia africana, Blactuca taraxacifolia, Cassia rotundifolia, Cleome ciliata, Diodia scandens, Kedrostie foetidissima, Phyllanthus amarus, Schrankia leptocarpa,Sida acuta, Solenostemon monostachyus. This study could contribute to the preservation and sustainable conservation of biological natural resources and the strengthening of knowledge in the field of medicinal herbaceous plants in the Guinean-Congolese zone of Benin.

Keywords: Use, herbaceous plants, medicinal plants, diseases, Guinean-Congolese, Benin