Review of Antimalarial, Pesticidal and Repellent Plants in The Ethiopian Traditional Herbal Medicine

Abstract

Abstract A bibliographic survey of information available in various sources was undertaken and a rich assamblege of plants used as antimalarials, insecticidals and repellents in the Ethiopian traditional herbal medicine system was compiled. Those plant species were tabulated in Excel spreadsheet and descriptive statistics applied for analysis of the data. A total of 177 plant species belonging to 148 genera and 65 families were documented. Shrubs (40.1%) and herbs (39.5%) accounted for higher proportions (80%) of the total species. The uses of leaves (61 spp.) and roots (29 spp.) claimed higher frequencies than other parts. The species were recorded from a wide range of altitudes with 38.5% coming from below 2400 m, areas generally known for being malarious. Most of these species were said to be used in connection with malaria and nuisance arthropods. The findings could assist research in phytochemistry, pharmacology, biomedicine, conservation and related works on top of documenting the biocultural heritage of the various Ethiopian ethno-linguistic communities. This compilation would also be beneficial to the healthcare services as it provides valuable ethnobotanical leads to plants with useful medicinal properties for possible drug discovery. The findings notify that there is a rich tradition of using plants especially for the treatment and prevention of malaria. The findings send a clear signal about the fragility of the associated indigenous knowledge/skills of the local communities in the face of escalating anthropogenic and natural pressures. The way forward calls for in situ conservation and putting the indigenous knowledge in to practice in order to mitigate the impeding problems facing the plants as well as the knowledge. Keywords: antimalarials, insecticides, mosquitocides, pesticides, repellents