PLANTS USED BY THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF ODEDA, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA FOR DIFFERENT AILMENTS: ETHNOBOTANICAL REPORTS AND PHARMACOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

The indigenous people of rural and semi-urban regions of Nigeria have a rich traditional medicine practice (TMP) heritage. Despite their wealth of knowledge on the use of plants as medicines, many of these plants have not been adequately explored. This study aimed at documenting, reviewing and validating plant species and their therapeutic benefits by the indigenous people of Ọdédá Local Government Area (LGA), Ogun State. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather information on socio-demographic data and ethno-medicinal plants/practices from 21 traditional medicine practitioners in ten villages across the LGA. Information collected included the plant species/parts used, ailments, common/vernacular names of the plants and methods of preparation/administration. An extensive literature survey was thereafter done to authenticate the veracity of the claims and find extra information on what is known about the named plants. Diseases frequently managed in this study area were fever/malaria, typhoid and arthritis. A total of 36 plant species belonging to 27 plant families were documented with their leaves mostly used plant part as oral decoctions. Aframomum melegueta and Citrus aurantifolia were the plant species with the highest relative frequency of citation. Approximately 83 % of the named plant species were found to have similar ethnomedicinal uses with studies conducted in other parts of the world and 99 % have been reported to be pharmacologically active in the literature. Lack of proper documentation can lead to loss of the traditional knowledge which threatens the sustenance of rural healthcare system. Standardization, development of an integrative curriculum and formal training in TMP in Nigeria is urgently needed.   &nbsp