Ethnobotanical Study of Hyacinthaceae and Non-hyacinthaceous

Correspondence

www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol8/i1547-3465-08-075.pdf

Ethnobotany Research & Applications 8:075-093 (2010)

Elizabeth Mwafongo, National Herbarium, P.O. Box 528, Zom-ba, MALAWI. [email protected] Nordal, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O.Box 1045, Blindern N-0316, Oslo, NORWAY. [email protected] Magombo, National Herbarium, P.O. Box 528, Zom-ba, MALAWI. [email protected],Brita Stedje, Botanical Garden, Natural History Museum, Uni-versity of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172, Blindern, N-0318 Oslo, NOR-WAY. [email protected]

gion from the Mediterranean to South-West Asia. (Stedje 1996a). Members of Hyacinthaceae occur in a great va-riety of habitats. Most species are adapted to seasonal climates that have a pronounced dry or cold period unfa-vorable for plant growth and during which the plants are dormant. Evergreen species are restricted to subtropical forests or savannah, temperate grasslands and perenni-ally moist fynbos (Manning 2004). A few species grow in marshes or along streams and some even grow only in the spray of seasonal waterfalls. The above ground parts (leaves and stems) of deciduous species die down when the plant enters dormancy. The plants thus survive peri-ods that are unfavorable for growth by retreating under-ground (Manning 2004).

Some members of the family Hyacinthaceae for exam-ple Drimia maritima (L.) Stern (synonym Urginea mariti-ma (L.) Baker), the sea onion, has been in medicinal use since earliest times and was mentioned as early as 1554 B.C. in the Papyrus Ebers of the Middle Empire of Egypt as a cure for dropsy (Manning 2004). Bufadienolides iso-lated from D. maritima and Drimia indica (Roxb.) Jessop are cardioactive steroids that have digoxin-like effects

Ethnobotanical Study of Hyacinthaceae and Non-hyacinthaceous Geophytes in Selected Districts of Malawi

Elizabeth Mwafongo, Inger Nordal, Zacharia Magombo, Brita Stedje

Research

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of an ethnobotanical survey of geophytes used in 15 selected districts of Ma-lawi. The survey was initially driven by the need to as-sess the conservation status and use of Lilioid monocots of the family Hyacinthaceae. Altogether, 49 geophytes were documented as useful for food (24%), medicine (58%) and other purposes (18%). The most commonly re-ported species was Dioscorea odoratissima Pax. (Diosco-reaceae). Monocots represented 45% of the total. Mem-bers of the family Hyacinthaceae were only represented by 3 (6%) species Albuca abyssinica Jacq., Ledebouria cordifolia (Baker) Stedje & Thulin and Ledebouria revoluta (L.f.) Jessop. The study has further explored six alterna-tive methods of evaluating sampling effort and estimating species richness. Michaelis-Menten Means estimator ap-peared to be the best estimator of species richness but was not able to accurately predict species richness for all the data combined. A bootstrap estimator was found to be more accurate. It was also apparent from the survey of geophytes that species in the Asteraceae and Fabaceae are more sought after for food and medicine than hya-cinthoide monocots evidenced by fewer representatives mentioned by respondents.

Introduction

The family Hyacinthaceae

The family Hyacinthaceae formerly part of the monocot-yledonous Liliaceae sensu lato (Engler & Prantl 1930) was not accepted as a separate family until the work of Dahlgren (Dahlgren et al. 1985, Dahlgren & Rasmussen 1983) and continues to be recognized as a distinct fam-ily (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 2003, Stevens 2001). The family comprises ± 40 genera and some 900 spe-cies widely distributed in temperate to tropical regions, with the highest diversity in southern Africa and in the re-

Published: April 21, 2010

Ethnobotany Research & Applications76


(Manning et al. 2004). In South Africa, several species such as Ledebouria cooperi Jessop, Ledebouria inquinata Jessop, Ledebouria ovatifolia (Baker) Jessop, Ledebouria revoluta (L.f.) Jessop, Ornithogalum saundersiae Baker, Ornithogalum thyrsoides Jacq., and several members of subfamily Urgineoideae are poisonous to grazing animals (Manning 2004). The toxic compound (scilliroside, a bufa-dienolide) is used for poisoning rats (Pohl et al. 2000). In Malawi ethnobotanical uses are known for some members of the family, e.g., Albuca sp. from which an infusion is made of the roots that is drunk as a remedy for chest ail-ments (pneumonia) (Morris & Msonthi 1991)

Hyacinthaceae are only occasionally used for human con-sumption. In Greece, the bulbs of Muscari comosum (L.) Mill. are eaten pickled, and in France, the inflorescenc-es of Ornithogalum pyrenaicum L. are eaten as a vegeta-ble (Pohl et al. 2000). In Africa, bushmen eat the bulbs of Ledebouria apertiflora Jessop and L. revoluta (Pohl et al. 2000). Hyacinthaceae are broadly employed for purposes ranging from the treatment of hangovers, rheumatic fever, sprains, syphilis and cancer, to the bewitchment of neigh-bors and securing of good fortune (Pohl et al. 2000). Many species feature prominently in the top ten regional me-dicinal plants in trade, the most important being Bowiea volubilis Harv. ex Hook.f. Eucomis autumnalis (Mill.) Chitt., and Scilla natalensis Planch. (Pohl et al. 2000). With 13 hyacinthaceous species identified from a total of 198 taxa catalogued in their medicinal plant survey, this family was second only to the Aloaceae in popularity in Southern Af-rica (Pohl et al. 2000).

More important is the use of various species of Hyacin-thaceae as ornamentals and cut flowers. Species of Ch-ouardia, Hyacinthoides, Hyacinthus, Muscari, Othocal-lis, Puschkinia, and Scilla are spring flowers of Northern Hemisphere parks and gardens. In southern Africa, spe-cies of Eucomis, Galtonia, Veltheimia and others are culti-vated as ornamentals. Ornithogalum thyrsoides and relat-ed species are important as cut flowers (Manning 2004). In Malawi, some species of Ledebouria and Scilla are also used as ornamentals (personal observation).

Geographical, Botanical and Demographic aspects

Malawi (Figure 1) is situated in Central Africa between 9o 22’ and 17o 01’S and 32o 43’ and 35o 55’ E (Mwanyam-bo & Nihero 1998). It is divided into three administrative regions; Northern, Central and Southern. There are 26 districts. The Great Rift Valley traverses the country from north to south, and in this deep trough lie Lake Malawi, the third-largest lake in Africa, comprising about 20% of Malawi’s area.

Malawi is a landlocked, densely populated country. Its economy is heavily dependent on agriculture which, rep-resents 34.7% of the gross domestic product and repre-sents about 80% of all exports. Nearly 90% of the popu-lation engages in subsistence farming (BAA 2008). The

MOZAMBIQUE

MOZAMBIQUE

ZAMBIA TANZANIA

12S

15S

36E33E

0 50 100km N

Lilongwe1A

1B1B2A

2C

2D 2E

2F

2G

2H

3A3B

3C

3D

3E

2B

MALAWI

Figure 1. Malawi and the districts visited during the geophyte survey: 1A. Balaka, 1B. Mangochi ; 2A. Dedza, 2B. Lilongwe, 2C. Mchinji, 2D. Mzimba, 2E. Nkhata bay, 2F. Ntcheu, 2G. Ntchisi, 2H. Rumphi; 3A. Chikwawa, 3B. Mulanje, 3C. Mwanza, 3D. Nsanje, 3E. Thyolo.

agricultural sector contributes about 63.7% of total income for the rural population, 65% of manufacturing sector’s raw materials, and approximately 87% of total employ-ment (reviewed in Mwanyambo & Nihero 1998). The pop-ulation is presently estimated at 12 million of which 90% live in rural areas. Agricultural products account for 90%

Mwafongo et al. - Ethnobotanical Study of Hyacinthaceae and Non-hyacinthaceous Geophytes in Selected Districts of Malawi


77

of Malawi’s exports; tobacco, tea and cotton are the major export commodities (NSO 1992).

White (1976) proposed a chorological classification of Af-rican vegetation and Malawi falls within the Zambezian region. Floristically, Malawi is included in the Flora Zamb-esiaca region together with the following countries; Mo-zambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and the Caprivi Strip of Namibia. It is known to be one of the richest in its specific diversity, and the main vegetation which charac-terizes this region is different forms of woodland and thick-et lacking evergreen rain forests (White et al. 2001). Zam-bezian woodlands comprise three major types: 1. miombo (dominated by Brachystegia spp.), 2. mopane (dominated by Colophospermum mopane (J. Kirk ex Benth.) J. Léon-ard), and 3. undifferentiated woodland. The total number of plant species in Malawi is estimated at between 5500-6000 (Msekandiana & Mlangeni 2002). Malawi presents a rich mosaic of different habitats brought about by its var-ied topography and altitudinal ranges (37-3002 m) and rainfall regimes with the average rainfall ranging from 700 to 3000 mm (White et al. 2001). From May to August, the climate is cool and dry. Average temperatures rise from September to November and the rainy season begins to-wards the end of November and extends to April or May (NSO 1992).

The populations of developing countries worldwide con-tinue to rely on the use of wild plants as a source of food and traditional medicine as their primary source of health care. This has created a demand for forest products, which cannot be met from rapidly dwindling indigenous forests (Hardcastle 1977). Ethnobotanical surveys con-ducted throughout Africa confirm that native plants are the main constituent of traditional African medicines (reviewed in Cunningham 1993). With 70-80% of Africa’s population relying on traditional medicines, the importance of the role of medicinal plants in the health care system is enormous (Cunningham 1993). Mwanyambo & Nihero (1998) noted that, in Malawi, modern health care provided principally by Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) is highly com-plemented by services from herbalists especially in the rural areas where 90% of the population lives. Herbalists are the people, who handle most local health problems. On a national scale, there is one herbalist to every 138 persons. This is in contrast to a doctor to population ratio of 1:27,000 and a nurse to population ratio of 1:14,000 for the period 1985-1990 (Anon. 1997).

Interest in ethnobotany of Malawian plants dates back to the 1970s with a benchmark study by Williamson (1974). In his book, he documented useful plants of Malawi. This was the first comprehensive study of all useful plants of Malawi as a nation, and in her book she listed 122 plant species. Other notable investigations are generally on the use of medicinal plants in Malawi (Hagreaves 1994, Mali-wichi 1997, Morris & Msonthi 1996, Msonthi 1994, Msonthi & Seyani 1994, Mwanyambo & Nihero 1998, Ndibwami et al. 1998) as well as non-medicinal plant uses of the other

tribes of Malawi (Mwanyambo 1994). The study by Mwan-yambo & Kananji (2001) on edible tubers lists some of the species that are edible especially during famine and some eaten in the form of relish. The list includes the orchids Satyrium buchananii Schltr. and Satyrium sp. (both locally known as mbuyeuye, a Nyanja term which refers to a type of vegetation with Brachystegia and Jubernadia), Sa-tyrium carsonii Rolfe, Disa robusta N.E.Br. and Disa ukin-gensis Schltr.

The urgent need to carry out ethnobotanical surveys in Malawi has been expressed by several workers (reviewed in Mwanyambo 1994) because of concern about steady loss of plants and tribal traditions through decline in natu-ral vegetation and urbanization. The present study, there-fore, addresses this issue by focusing on the geophytic flora, with particular emphasis on Hyacinthaceae.

Geophytes are plants which posses underground resting buds attached to storage organs such as rhizomes, tu-bers, bulbs or corms (Esler et al. 1999) but in this study, only bulbs and tubers are considered. A tuber is a thick-ened underground stem, and the stem tissue serves as the primary storage tissue; but unlike a corm, it has no basal plate. Meristems occur on the tuber and are com-monly called “eyes” on a potato. A true bulb is comprised of a compressed stem, or basal plate, and modified leaves called scales serve as the primary storage tissue. Exam-ples include tulip, lily, allium (e.g., onion). In the present study the collective term ‘underground parts’ will be used to refer to both bulbs and tubers

Although some geophytes are known to be evergreen, many of them survive periods of environmental stress such as summer drought or winter cold by dying back to these underground storage organs (Dafni et al. 1981). When the conditions are favorable, they resprout new foliage with inflorescences imaging before, during or at the end of the vegetative growing season. Geophytes are generally tar-geted by people for food, medicine and ornamentals. This act causes serious damage to the targeted plants and in most cases the whole plant is uprooted and dies back. Al-though few data are available on the impact of harvesting underground organs, i.e., whole plants, local depletion of plants targeted has been recorded elsewhere (reviewed in Cunningham 1994). The present investigation sought to document ethnobotanical uses of geophytes of the family Hyacinthaceae but since no previous ethnobotanical work has been done exclusively on geophytes of Malawi, this also included non-Lilioid plants to gain an overview of their use and to assess their conservation status. Furthermore, the study explored methods of measuring sampling effort and species richness among the 15 selected districts us-ing non-parametric methods adapted from mark-recapture applications for estimating population size (reviewed in Williams et al. 2007). These methods require no assump-tions about community structure (Colwell & Coddington 1995). The estimators are also known to be homologous in that richness is estimated from the preponderance of



rare species (Colwell & Coddington 1994), i.e., the higher the proportional abundance of rare species, the greater the probability of encountering more new species with in-creased sampling effort (Williams et al. 2007).

Methodology

An understanding of geophyte use in Malawi and their conservation status required the administration of group and household interviews through the administration of a structured questionnaire. The survey was conducted from the period January to March 2007 in three phas-es; Phase 1 (Mangochi and Balaka Districts); Phase 2 (Rumphi, Mzimba, Nkhatabay, Ntchisi, Mchinji, Lilongwe, Dedza, Ntcheu Districts) and Phase 3 (Nsanje Chikwa-wa, Mwanza, Mulanje and Thyolo Districts). See Figure 1 for list of the districts numbered in phase order. Phase 1 was conducted to pretest the designed questionnaire and adjustments were made to some of the questions before going into the second phase. All in all, 87 ques-tionnaires were administered in the 15 selected districts mostly to individuals and in some cases to groups. The districts were selected to include different tribes repre-sented in Malawi. Data collected included personal par-ticulars, knowledge of geophytes and uses. To asses the economic significance and conservation status of geo-phytes data on cost and availability was also collected. Plants names were recorded on site and both scientific and vernacular names recorded. All names were verified at National Herbarium in Zomba by technicians.

Data analysis was achieved by using three programs; Mi-crosoft Excel 2003, PAST (Hammer & Harper 2004) and EstimateSWin800 (Colwell 2006). Microsoft Excel was used for univariate analysis whereas PAST was employed

8%

12%

25%

13%

8%

30%

4%

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Frequency of respondends

Tonga

Tumbuka

Chewa

Ngoni

Khokhola

Sena

Yao

Trib

e

0 5 10 20 3015 25

Tonga 8%

Tumbuka 12%

Chewa 25%

Yao 4%

Sena 30%

Khokhola 8%

Ngoni 13%

Tribe

Frequency of Responses

Fig 2

Figure 2. Percentage of respondents based on tribe as interviewed in Malawi about familiarity with geophytes.

EstimateS (Colwell 2006) was used to plot a species ac-cumulation curve/collectors curve, which is a plot of cu-mulative number of species discovered within a defined area as a function of some measure of the effort expend-ed to find them (Colwell & Coddington 1994). According to Williams et al. (2007), if sampling is incomplete, the curve will show an upward trend illustrating the extent to which sampling effort might have to be increased to accumu-late more species. Six non-parametric species richness estimators, namely: ICE, Chao 2, first order and second-order Jackknife, bootstrap and Michaelis–Menten Means, appropriate for incidence-based data (observed species) were run to evaluate their performance in estimating spe-cies richness. The sample order was randomized 100 times to compute the mean estimator and expected spe-cies richness for each sample accumulation level the end result of which was a smooth curve. The 15 districts vis-ited are here treated as samples. A thorough description and formulae of the species richness estimators used in the present are well documented in Colwell & Coddington (1994).

Results

Fifty nine percent of people interviewed in the survey were female. Most respondents were from the Sena tribe (30%), and the least proportion from Yao tribe (4%) (Figure 2). Regarding age groups of respondents, 18% were over 50 years old, over half of them, 52% were 35-49 years old, 26% were 21-34 years old, and the least proportion, 2% were less than 20 years old.

Table 1 summarizes the results of interviews about plants. When asked if they were familiar with geophytes around them, the majority (88%) indicated that they were familiar

for cluster analysis. Cluster analysis is a family of multivariate statistics which attempts to subdivide or partition a set of heterogeneous objects into relatively homogenous groups (Höft et al. 1999). Dice similarity index, also known as Sorensen Index, was used in the clus-tering analysis. This index is useful for calculating the similarity index of pres-ence/absence or positive/negative re-ply data (qualitative) (Höft et al. 1999). The mathematical algorithm calculates the degree of similarity or dissimilar-ity and clusters the objects according to their overall most similar attributes, i.e., it projects clusters of objects that are more similar to each other than any other specimen (Sneath & Sokal 1973). Data on presence/absence of species collected from all the districts were used in the cluster analysis and the re-sultant table of similarity indexes were projected as a dendrogram.

8%

12%

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13%

8%

30%

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05

1015

2025

3035

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Freq

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a

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a

Sen

a

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Tribe

05

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Tum

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8%

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ni13

%

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e

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uenc

y of

Res

pons

es

Fig

2



79

Tabl

e 1.

Geo

phyt

e pl

ants

iden

tified

by i

nfor

man

ts in

Mal

awi a

nd th

eir r

espe

ctiv

e us

es. L

ocal

lang

uage

s (C

h=C

hich

ewa,

Kho

=Kho

khol

a, L

o=Lo

mw

e, M

an=M

ang’

anja

, S

e=S

ena,

To=

Tong

a, T

u=Tu

mbu

ka).

Use

(F=F

ood,

M=M

edic

ine,

O=O

rnam

enta

l). P

art u

sed

(L=L

eave

s, U

=Und

ergr

ound

par

t)

Plan

t spe

cies

Loca

l nam

esU

sePa

rt

used

Prep

arat

ion

(not

e th

at th

e do

sage

per

trea

tmen

t is

100

ml u

nles

s in

dica

ted

othe

rwis

e)D

isea

se tr

eate

d

Food

Medicine

Other

Am

aryl

lidac

eae

Boo

phon

e di

stic

ha (L

.f.)

Her

bC

him

bozy

a (T

u)X

UP

ound

, soa

k an

d ad

min

iste

r to

patie

nt th

ree

times

a

day.

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umat

ism

, Ve

nere

al d

isea

ses

Crin

um m

acow

anii

Bak

erN

kali

(Kho

), A

nyez

i w

a m

then

go (M

an),

Chi

mem

ene

(To)

XX

1U

Pou

nd u

nder

grou

nd p

arts

, soa

k, a

nd ta

ke th

ree

times

a d

ay. F

or s

ore

skin

, pou

nd u

nder

grou

nd p

arts

an

d ad

d to

bat

h w

ater

.

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mac

hach

e, fe

rtilit

y,

sore

ski

n, c

lean

ing

the

birth

can

al o

f a w

oman

, A

phro

disi

ac, d

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cyna

ceae

Rap

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acm

e w

elw

itsch

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chltr

. & R

endl

eK

anga

le (L

o)X

XU

The

unde

rgro

und

part

is p

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d, b

oile

d an

d ea

ten

like

any

othe

r pot

ato.

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rodi

siac

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ceae

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ocas

ia e

scul

enta

(L.)

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ott

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umbe

(Lo)

XU

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en a

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g.

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atop

us b

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nii

(Dec

ne.)

Eng

l.X

US

liced

, drie

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d pr

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sed

into

pow

der a

nd a

dded

to

por

ridge

or t

ea.

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dach

e

Sty

loch

iton

pube

rulu

s N

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r.X

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ut in

to s

mal

ler p

iece

s an

d ad

ded

to d

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ng w

ater

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ew C

astle

dis

ease

in

chi

cken

sA

ster

acea

eD

icom

a an

omal

a S

ond.

Palib

ekan

thu

(Ch)

(Lo)

, Pa

lijek

anth

u (T

u)

XU

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n an

d ad

d sa

lt. F

or s

tom

ach

pain

s, s

ore

thro

at

and

rheu

mat

ism

root

s ar

e dr

ied

and

poun

ded

into

po

wde

r and

a te

aspo

on is

add

ed to

tea

or p

orrid

ge.

Pro

tect

ion

from

thug

s,

head

ache

, cou

gh,

rheu

mat

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, sto

mac

h pa

ins,

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e th

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, attr

act

mem

bers

of t

he o

ppos

ite

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rtion

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ound

s, a

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lia O

liv.

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nze

(Sen

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es a

nd ru

b w

here

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is. T

he

unde

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und

part

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aten

afte

r boi

ling.

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n ra

sh

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chia

ceae

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riosa

sup

erba

L.

Then

geza

(Ch)

X4

UK

eep

unde

rgro

und

part

in p

ocke

t.



Plan

t spe

cies

Loca

l nam

esU

sePa

rt

used

Prep

arat

ion

(not

e th

at th

e do

sage

per

trea

tmen

t is

100

ml u

nles

s in

dica

ted

othe

rwis

e)D

isea

se tr

eate

d

Food

Medicine

Other

Cuc

urbi

tace

aeC

ucum

is h

irsut

us S

ond.

Nkh

akat

heng

o (S

e)X

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ound

und

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ound

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t, so

ak in

wat

er a

nd g

ive

to p

atie

nt th

ree

time

a da

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wol

len

body

Mom

ordi

ca fo

etid

a S

chum

ach

& T

honn

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yam

andw

a (C

h)X

UP

eel u

nder

grou

nd p

art a

nd e

at ra

w.

Dio

scor

eace

aeD

iosc

orea

bul

bife

ra L

.C

hila

zi (C

h)X

UP

ound

und

ergr

ound

par

ts, s

oak

and

take

thre

e tim

e a

day.

To

treat

ski

n ra

sh, r

ub le

aves

on

affe

cted

ar

ea a

fter t

akin

g a

bath

.

Imm

unity

boo

ster

, tre

at s

kin

rash

Dio

scor

ea d

umet

orum

(K

unth

) Pax

Nya

nya,

Zi

nyan

ya (L

o)X

UC

ooke

d in

wat

er fo

r sev

eral

hou

rs a

nd s

erve

d w

ith

fish,

mea

t or v

eget

able

s.D

iosc

orea

esc

ulen

ta

(Lou

r.) B

urki

ll C

hila

zi (C

h),

Viya

wu

(To)

XX

U/L

Und

ergr

ound

par

t was

hed

and

cook

ed fo

r lon

g ho

urs

deca

ntin

g th

e w

ater

in th

e pr

oces

s. T

o tre

at

skin

rash

und

ergr

ound

par

t rub

bed

on a

ffect

ed a

rea.

Ski

n ra

sh

Dio

scor

ea o

dora

tissi

ma

Pax

Mak

huth

i (M

an),

Ndi

ya, M

tam

a (T

o)X

UC

ooke

d in

wat

er fo

r sev

eral

hou

rs a

nd s

erve

d w

ith

fish,

mea

t or v

eget

able

s.D

iosc

orea

san

siba

rens

is

Pax

Mio

le (L

o)X

UC

ooke

d in

wat

er fo

r sev

eral

hou

rs. H

owev

er, i

n th

is

case

wat

er is

dec

ante

d se

vera

l tim

es to

rem

ove

pois

onou

s ch

emic

als.

Mos

t of t

he ti

mes

it is

coo

ked

over

nig

ht a

nd e

aten

the

follo

win

g da

y.D

iosc

orea

san

siba

rens

is P

axC

hidy

a N

khum

ba

(Sen

a)X

XU

Und

ergr

ound

par

t pou

nded

and

rubb

ed o

n th

e af

fect

ed a

rea.

Sna

ke b

ites,

H

eada

che,

ski

n ra

shTa

cca

leon

tope

talo

ides

(L.)

Kun

tze

Mw

inim

unda

(g

uard

ian

of th

e ga

rden

) (C

h),

Din

de (S

en),

Din

da, K

hazi

khaz

i, M

adin

da (T

o)

XX

UTh

e un

derg

roun

d pa

rt is

cut

into

pie

ces,

drie

d an

d m

ade

into

flou

r whi

ch is

then

use

d to

mak

e po

rrid

ge.

As

a m

edic

ine

the

unde

rgro

und

part

is s

oake

d an

d ta

ken

thre

e tim

es a

day

. To

treat

a c

hild

’s s

wol

len

sple

en th

e un

derg

roun

d pa

rt is

cut

into

two

and

rubb

ed o

n a

child

’s b

elly.

Sto

mac

hach

e, y

ello

w

feve

r, im

prov

e fe

rtilit

y in

wom

en, s

plee

n en

larg

emen

t, an

al

prol

apse

, app

etiz

er,

porr

idge

for k

ids,

rh

eum

atis

m, l

ove

potio

n,

diar

rhoe

a in

chi

ldre

nEu

phor

biac

eae

Man

ihot

gla

ziov

ii M

üll.

Arg

.M

pira

(Ch)

XL

Coo

ked

and

eate

n as

a v

eget

able

.



81

Plan

t spe

cies

Loca

l nam

esU

sePa

rt

used

Prep

arat

ion

(not

e th

at th

e do

sage

per

trea

tmen

t is

100

ml u

nles

s in

dica

ted

othe

rwis

e)D

isea

se tr

eate

d

Food

Medicine

Other

Faba

ceae

[Dol

icho

s sp

.]N

aman

deph

ule

(Kho

),X

5U

Pou

nd th

e un

derg

roun

d pa

rt, a

dd w

ater

and

soa

k cl

othe

s. W

ash

them

as

with

any

det

erge

nt.

Dol

icho

s ki

liman

dsch

aric

us

Taub

.N

thup

a (C

h),

Ngu

nga

(Lo)

, D

ema

(Tu)

XU

Pou

nd u

nder

grou

nd p

arts

, boi

l and

giv

e to

pat

ient

.N

ew C

astle

in c

hick

ens,

dy

sent

ery,

rheu

mat

ism

, sc

abie

s, s

hing

les

Dol

icho

s tri

nerv

atus

Bak

er

Cha

mkh

wer

e (T

u),

XX

6U

Cut

und

ergr

ound

par

ts in

to p

iece

s, s

oak

and

drin

k 3-

4 tim

es a

day

.S

tom

acha

che

Ele

phan

torr

hiza

goe

tzei

(H

arm

s) H

arm

sC

hate

ta (N

goni

), Th

etha

(Sen

)X

UW

ashe

d, c

ut in

to s

mal

ler p

iece

s an

d so

aked

in

wat

er. T

he p

atie

nt is

giv

en th

ree

times

a d

ay.

Blo

ody

diar

rhoe

a,

boils

, sto

mac

hach

eE

min

ia a

nten

nulif

era

(Bak

er) T

aub.

Suzy

a (T

u)X

UP

eel a

nd e

at ra

w.

Muc

una

pogg

ei T

aub.

Nkh

unga

(Tu)

XU

Cut

into

sm

all p

iece

s, b

oil,

add

eggs

and

hon

ey

and

adm

inis

ter t

o pa

tient

thre

e tim

es a

day

.C

ough

, ast

hma

Neo

raut

anen

ia m

itis

(A.R

ich.

) Ver

dc.

Kat

upe

(Ch)

, C

hiba

ta (L

o),

Om

bwe

(Sen

), N

jow

era

(Tu)

XX

7U

Pou

nd u

nder

grou

nd p

arts

and

spr

inkl

e in

wat

er a

nd

the

fish

will

floa

t to

the

surfa

ce. T

o tre

at N

ew C

astle

di

seas

e th

e po

unde

d ro

ots

are

adde

d to

drin

king

w

ater

. As

a pe

stic

ide

poun

d th

e un

derg

roun

d pa

rt,

soak

and

spr

ay th

e in

fect

ed p

lant

s.

New

Cas

tle in

ch

icke

ns, fi

sh p

oiso

n,

pest

icid

e, u

sed

to

stre

ngth

en c

lay

pots

Tylo

sem

a fa

ssog

lens

is

(Kot

schy

ex

Sch

wei

nf.)

Torr

e &

Hill

c.

Chi

kwak

wa

(Ch)

XU

Cut

into

sm

alle

r pie

ces,

soa

ked

in w

ater

, and

ta

ke th

ree

times

a d

ay.

Rhe

umat

ism

, fer

tility

in

wom

en

Hya

cint

hace

aeA

lbuc

a ab

yssi

nica

Jac

q.N

khon

kho

(Ch)

XU

Pou

nd u

nder

grou

nd p

art a

nd a

dd to

bat

h w

ater

.P

rote

ct n

ew b

orn

babi

es

from

dis

ease

sLe

debo

uria

cor

difo

lia

(Bak

er) S

tedj

e &

Thu

linN

khon

kho

(Ch)

XU

Coo

k to

geth

er w

ith a

n or

chid

and

use

d as

a re

lish.

Lede

bour

ia re

volu

ta

(L.f.

) Jes

sop

Chi

kola

nyen

je,

Chi

bato

(Ch)

, C

him

ati (

Tu),

X8

UP

ound

und

ergr

ound

par

t and

sm

ear p

rodu

ct

on b

ird tr

ap.

Vene

real

dis

ease

s w

ith A

loe

sp.



Plan

t spe

cies

Loca

l nam

esU

sePa

rt

used

Prep

arat

ion

(not

e th

at th

e do

sage

per

trea

tmen

t is

100

ml u

nles

s in

dica

ted

othe

rwis

e)D

isea

se tr

eate

d

Food

Medicine

Other

Hyp

oxid

acea

eH

ypox

is v

illos

a L.

f. Ek

hwiy

a (L

o)X

UC

ut ro

ots

into

pie

ces,

boi

l and

giv

e to

pat

ient

.Im

mun

ity b

oost

er,

aphr

odis

iac,

yel

low

fe

ver,

stom

ach

pain

s, T

richo

mon

as

vagi

nalis

(Lib

ale)

Icac

inac

eae

Pyr

enac

anth

a ka

urab

assa

na B

aill.

Njo

vu y

ayen

da

(Man

), C

hikh

azik

a,

Chi

khaz

iko,

M

chen

de, P

havu

wa,

(C

h), M

ambo

(Se)

, M

lozi

wan

alum

e,

Vind

indi

(Tu)

XX

9U

Was

hed

and

boil

unde

rgro

und

parts

then

add

to

bath

wat

er to

trea

t sw

ellin

gs. S

quee

ze a

nd d

rink

to

treat

sto

mac

hach

e. F

or h

igh

bloo

d pr

essu

re

pow

dere

d un

derg

roun

d pa

rt is

add

ed to

por

ridge

.

Sto

mac

hach

e, s

wel

lings

, st

omac

h ul

cers

, rh

eum

atis

m, s

kin

rash

, hi

gh b

lood

pre

ssur

e,

hear

t pal

pita

tions

, fev

er

Irida

ceae

Gla

diol

us d

alen

ii Va

n G

eel

Bw

ante

te (C

h),

B

wan

gulu

(To)

, Ja

ngul

u (T

u)

XX

10U

Pie

rce

mid

dle

of u

nder

grou

nd p

art a

nd in

sert

a st

ring

mad

e of

sis

al.

Lam

iace

aeP

lect

rant

hus

escu

lent

us

N.E

. Br

Buy

e (K

ho)

XU

Pee

l and

eat

raw

or b

oile

d.

Nym

phac

acea

eN

ymph

aea

caer

ulea

S

avig

nyN

yika

(Sen

)X

UC

ook

and

eat d

urin

g fa

min

e.

Orc

hida

ceae

Dis

a sp

.C

hika

nde

(Ch)

, C

hina

ka (T

u)X

UW

ash,

dry

and

pou

nd u

nder

grou

nd p

art.

Then

, sie

ve

to g

et fi

ne p

owde

r. Th

e po

wde

r is

cook

ed in

wat

er

toge

ther

with

Sod

ium

bic

arbo

nate

or p

ot a

shes

.H

aben

aria

sp.

Chi

kand

e(C

h)X

UW

ash

and

boil

part

in w

ater

then

eat

.Pa

ssifloraceae

Ade

nia

gum

mife

ra

(Har

v.) H

arm

s Th

obod

imbo

(Ch)

, M

wan

amph

epo

(Ch,

Lo)

XU

Pou

nd p

art a

nd ru

b on

the

affe

cted

are

a.G

onor

rhoe

a



83

Plan

t spe

cies

Loca

l nam

esU

sePa

rt

used

Prep

arat

ion

(not

e th

at th

e do

sage

per

trea

tmen

t is

100

ml u

nles

s in

dica

ted

othe

rwis

e)D

isea

se tr

eate

d

Food

Medicine

Other

Port

ulac

eae

Por

tula

ca o

lera

cea

L.N

yam

gogw

a (M

an)

XX

U/L

Boi

l and

sea

son

leav

es a

nd e

at a

s re

lish.

Pou

nd

unde

rgro

und

part

and

use

to tr

eat o

ral s

ores

in

child

ren.

Ora

l sor

es

Rus

cace

aeE

riosp

erm

um a

byss

inic

um

Bak

erM

timau

mod

zi (C

h),

Bw

angu

lu (T

o),

Jang

ulu

(Tu)

XX

11U

Dry

und

ergr

ound

par

t, gr

ind

into

pow

der a

nd a

dd

a te

aspo

on to

por

ridge

. As

a lo

ve p

otio

n, d

ry a

nd

burn

the

unde

rgro

und

part

into

ash

es to

geth

er

with

hea

rts o

f a m

ale

and

fem

ale

pige

on a

nd a

dd

to re

lish

whi

ch y

our h

usba

nd w

ill e

at. T

his

will

tri

gger

him

into

sho

wer

ing

you

with

all

his

love

. The

he

rbal

ist a

lso

said

that

inst

ead

of p

igeo

n he

arts

, one

ca

n us

e he

arts

of a

mal

e an

d fe

mal

e sh

eep.

Thi

s m

ixtu

re is

mor

e po

wer

ful t

han

the

form

er b

ecau

se it

is

bel

ieve

d th

at th

e m

an w

ill b

e ac

ting

like

a sh

eep

in th

e re

latio

nshi

p, i.

e., t

he w

ife w

ill b

e in

cha

rge.

App

etiz

er, c

ure

swol

len

sple

en, h

eart

palp

itatio

ns, l

ove

porti

on

Vita

ceae

Am

pelo

ciss

us a

frica

na

(Lou

r.) M

err.

Mw

anam

phep

o (C

h, L

o)X

UP

ound

und

ergr

ound

par

t, so

ak a

nd a

dmin

iste

r to

patie

nt. F

or w

ound

s cl

ean

the

affe

cted

are

a w

ith

the

solv

ent.

Wou

nds,

sto

mac

hach

e

Am

pelo

ciss

us o

btus

ata

(Wel

w. e

x B

aker

) Pla

nch.

Mw

anam

phep

o (C

h, L

o)X

UP

ound

und

ergr

ound

par

t and

sm

ear

prod

uct o

n w

ound

/sw

olle

n ar

ea.

Wou

nds

Cis

sus

aris

tolo

chiif

olia

P

lanc

h.M

wan

amph

epo

wa

ntaw

alez

a (L

o)X

UP

ound

, boi

l and

dru

nk th

ree

times

a d

ay.

Dia

rrho

ea

Cis

sus

corn

ifolia

(B

aker

) Pla

nch.

Mw

anam

phep

o (C

h,

Lo),

Mbu

mbu

(Tu)

XU

Cut

into

sm

all p

iece

s, s

oak

and

adm

inis

ter o

n ex

pect

ant w

oman

.E

asy

deliv

ery

Cis

sus

inte

grifo

lia

(Bak

er) P

lanc

h.M

wan

amph

epo

(Ch,

Lo)

XU

Pou

nd, b

oil a

nd ta

ke th

ree

times

a d

ay.

Hea

dach

e, s

kin

rash

(m

wan

amph

epo)

Cis

sus

rubi

gino

sa (W

elw

. ex

Bak

er) P

lanc

h.N

yaka

tam

be(S

e)X

XU

Pou

nd, b

oil a

nd d

rink.

Pow

der i

n te

a or

por

ridge

.R

heum

atis

m

Cis

sus

zom

bens

is (B

aker

) G

ilg &

M. B

rand

tK

anam

wal

iche

che

(Ch)

XU

Eat

afte

r boi

ling.



Plan

t spe

cies

Loca

l nam

esU

sePa

rt

used

Prep

arat

ion

(not

e th

at th

e do

sage

per

trea

tmen

t is

100

ml u

nles

s in

dica

ted

othe

rwis

e)D

isea

se tr

eate

d

Food

Medicine

Other

Cyp

host

emm

a ju

nceu

m

(Web

b) D

esc.

ex

Wild

&

R.B

. Dru

mm

.

Mw

anam

phep

o (L

o), M

bum

bu (T

u)X

UP

ound

, boi

l and

take

n th

ree

times

a d

ay. F

or

swel

lings

, cut

und

ergr

ound

par

t and

rub

on

affe

cted

are

a.

Dia

rrho

ea, r

heum

atis

m,

swel

lings

, blo

od b

oost

er,

give

n to

wea

k ba

bies

to

mak

e th

em s

trong

aga

inZi

ngib

erac

eae

Kae

mpf

eria

rose

a S

chw

einf

. ex

Bak

erC

hika

su (C

h)X

UW

ash,

dry

and

pou

nd. P

ound

ed u

nder

grou

nd p

arts

ar

e th

en s

ieve

d to

a fi

ne p

owde

r. Th

e po

wde

r is

then

co

oked

in w

ater

toge

ther

with

Sod

ium

bic

arbo

nate

or

pot a

shes

.

Sor

e th

roat

, yel

low

fe

ver,

clea

ning

the

uter

us a

nd b

irth

cana

l

Oth

er u

ses:

1. U

sed

as a

n or

nam

enta

l. 2.

Und

ergr

ound

par

t use

d as

a fo

od. 3

. Lea

ves

used

med

icin

ally.

4. U

nder

grou

nd p

art k

ept i

n po

cket

as

a lu

cky

char

m.

5. U

sed

for l

aund

ry. 6

. Use

d as

soa

p. 7

. Use

d as

a p

estic

ide.

8. U

sed

for c

atch

ing

inse

cts

know

n as

nye

nje.

9. U

sed

as a

pes

ticid

e. 1

0. T

he u

nder

grou

nd p

art i

s us

ed a

s a

toy.

11.

Chi

ldre

n m

ake

a pl

ayin

g w

heel

out

of t

he u

nder

grou

nd p

art.

This

is a

lso

used

as

a lo

ve p

otio

n.

Figu

re 3

. Mos

t pop

ular

geo

phyt

es re

porte

d fro

m a

sur

vey

in M

alaw

i. S

peci

es th

at w

ere

men

tione

d le

ss th

an e

ight

tim

es

wer

e ex

clud

ed.

with the plants. Those who were not familiar (12%) were all between age 21 and 49. A total of 49 species were re-corded in the survey as being used by the respondents ei-ther for food (24%), medicine (18%), or other uses (58%) including as ornamentals, pesticides, for child’s play and laundry. Figure 3 illustrates the eight most commonly re-ported or popular geophytes reported with other species mentioned fewer times. Plant parts used were reported as either leaves only (4%), leaves and underground parts (6%) or underground parts (90%). Prescriptions for prepa-ration of remedies and diseases treated were also record-ed (Table 1). The 49 species listed were lumped into three major use categories (food, medicinal and other) and then further grouped into 16 use categories (Table 2).

31

18

15

1313

12

11

10

05

1015

2025

3035

Num

ber

of ti

mes

men

tione

d

Dio

scor

ea o

dora

tissi

ma

Dic

oma

anom

ala

Son

d.

Neo

rant

anen

ia m

itis

Ple

ctra

nthu

s es

cule

ntus

Pyr

enac

anth

a ka

urab

assa

na

Tacc

a le

onto

peta

loid

es

Her

bana

ria s

p

Dol

icho

s ki

riman

dsch

aric

us

Dol

icho

ski

rim

ands

char

icus

Hab

enar

iasp

.

Tacc

ale

onto

ptea

loid

es

Pyre

naca

ntha

kaur

abas

sana

Plec

tran

thus

escu

lent

us

Neo

auta

neni

am

itis

Dic

oma

anom

ala

Dio

scor

eaod

orat

issi

ma

05

1020

3015

25

31

13 13

15

18

12

11

10 Num

ber o

f Tim

es M

enti

oned

Fig

3



85

Table 2. Medicinal geophytes identified by informants in Malawi and sorted into major use categories. (See Figure 5.)

Species Medicinal Use Categories

Food

Dig

estiv

e Sy

stem

Pr

oble

ms

Wou

nds,

Sor

es,

Skin

Ras

hes

Gyn

ecol

ogic

al

Hea

dach

es

Res

pira

tory

Sy

stem

Pro

blem

s

Circ

ulat

ory

Syst

em P

robl

ems

Blo

od B

oost

er

Snak

e B

ite

Imm

unity

Boo

ster

Infa

nt/ N

ewbo

rn

Car

eA

phro

disi

ac,

Love

Pot

ion

Prot

ectio

n fr

om T

hugs

Abo

rtio

n

Poul

try

Dis

ease

s

Fish

Poi

son,

Pe

stic

ides

Adenia gummifera XAlbuca abyssinica XAmpelocissus africana X XAmpelocissus obtusata XBoophane disticha X XBoscia salicifolia XCissus aristolochiifolia XCissus comifolia XCissus integrifolia X XCissus rubiginosa X XCissus zombensis XColocasia esculenta XCrinum macowanii X X X X XCucumis hirsutus XCyphostemma junceum X X X XDicoma anomala X X X X X X X XDioscorea bulbifera X XDioscorea dumetorum XDioscorea esculenta XDioscorea odoratissima XDioscorea sansibarensis X X X XDisa sp. XDolichos sp. XDolichos kilimandscharicus X X X XDolichos trinervatus XElephantorrhiza goetzei X X XEminia antennulifera XEriospermum abyssinicum X XGladiolus dalenii XGloriosa superba XGonatopus boivinii XHabenaria sp. XHypoxis villosa X X X XKaempferia rosea X X XLedebouria cordifolia X



Species Medicinal Use Categories

Food

Dig

estiv

e Sy

stem

Pr

oble

ms

Wou

nds,

Sor

es,

Skin

Ras

hes

Gyn

ecol

ogic

al

Hea

dach

es

Res

pira

tory

Sy

stem

Pro

blem

s

Circ

ulat

ory

Syst

em P

robl

ems

Blo

od B

oost

er

Snak

e B

ite

Imm

unity

Boo

ster

Infa

nt/ N

ewbo

rn

Car

eA

phro

disi

ac,

Love

Pot

ion

Prot

ectio

n fr

om T

hugs

Abo

rtio

n

Poul

try

Dis

ease

s

Fish

Poi

son,

Pe

stic

ides

Ledebouria revoluta XManihot glaziovii XMomordica foetida XMucuna poggei XNeorautanenia mitis X XNymphaea caerulea XPlectranthus esculentus XPortulaca oleracea X XPyrenacantha kaurabassana X X XRaphionacme welwitschii X XStylochiton puperulus XTacca leontopetaloides X X X X X XTylosema fassoglensis X

Food Plants

A number of geophyte species are used for food (24%) being consumed raw or boiled in water. The only mem-ber of the family Hyacinthaceae which falls into this cat-egory is L. cordifolia. This bulb is mixed together with or-chid tubers to make cakes that are used as relish. Five species of yams (Dioscorea) are however the mostly tar-geted for their tubers especially during periods of fam-ine. Dioscorea odoratissima was frequently mentioned by respondents as being the most important tuber species (Figure 3), meaning that it was preferred over the other tuber species. Dioscorea species are known to have vary-ing proportions of an alkaloid dioscorine that is bitter and toxic (Mwanyambo & Kananji 2001). This is why some species known to be poisonous are cooked for long hours mostly overnight to remove toxicity. Water is decanted several times in the process of cooking. Another popu-lar famine tuber is Nymphaea caerulea, locally known as nyika (Sena). The underground part is yam-like and the most popular famine food amongst the Sena people in Nsanje district. This species is very scarce such that men must travel by boat for six hours across the Shire River to harvest it because it has been over-exploited and hence scarce (Mpaka 2008). It is harvested underwater by div-ing. It is peeled and boiled before consuming. It is served together with vegetables. However, people complain that the underground part is bitter. Other tubers are eaten raw. These include Eminia antennulifera, Momordica foetida and Plectranthus esculentus.

Medicinal plants

The 29 geophyte species identified as medicinal are most-ly used in preparations which are powders, decoctions and ashes (Figure 4). In this category, the only members of the family Hyacinthaceae mentioned were Albuca abyssinica and L. revoluta. Dicoma anomala was mentioned as the most popular medicinal plant (Figure 3) by respondents because of its diverse uses. Figure 5 sorts the diseases treated by the underground parts of the plants reported into major use categories. Interestingly, half of the uses account for the three largest categories with 17% each.

Some members of the genus Hypoxis, commercially known as “African potato,” are taken to boost the immune system especially by people infected with HIV (Ncube 1998). In the category of boosting the immunity of hu-man beings, especially those infected with AIDS, the geo-phytes involved are used in combination with other tubers and the end product of this is administered in powder form. One of the respondents, a traditional healer claimed that the drug (Figure 4A), which is a combination of sev-eral tuber species “has been proven to purify blood and raise the CD4 cell count of patients suffering from AIDS” and further claimed that “most patients had gained weight after taking the drug.” The vast number of medicinal plant species as opposed to food species is an indication of the important role played by geophytes in the health care sys-tem of Malawi.



87

BA18%

17%

16%11%

6%

4%

9%

4%

3%

3%3%

3% 1%1%1%

Wounds, Sores & skinrushesCirculatory system problemsDigestive System DiseasesGynecologicalHeadachesRespiratory system problemsLove portion/aphrodisiacsInfant/newborn careSnake bitesPoultry diseasesImmunity boosterBlood boosterProtection from thugsFish poison/pesticidesAbortion

Fig 5a

1%

4%

6%

7%

13%

17%4%

4%

17%

17%

2%

Circulatory 16.90141 12Digestive 16.90141 12Wounds 16.90141 12Gynecological 12.67606 9Love potion 7.042254 5Headaches 5.633803 4Infant 4.225352 3Poultry 4.225352 3Respiratory 4.225352 3Blood boost 2.816901 2Immunity booster 2.816901 2Abortion 1.408451 1Piscacide/pesticide 1.408451 1Protection 1.408451 1Snake Bite 1.408451 1 71

Fig 5bCirculatory

Digestive

Wounds

Gynecological

Love potion

Headaches

Infant

Pountry

Respiratory

Blood boost

Immunity booster

Abortion

Circulatory System Problems

Digestive System Problems

Wounds, Sores, Skin Rashes

Gynecological

Aphrodisiac, Love Potion

Headaches

Infant/Newborn Care

Poultry Diseases

Respiratory System Problems

Blood Booster

Immunity Booster

Abortion

Fish Poison, Pesticides

Snake Bite

Protection from Thugs

Fig 5bCirculatory

Digestive

Wounds

Gynecological

Love potion

Headaches

Infant

Pountry

Respiratory

Blood boost

Immunity booster

Abortion

Circulatory System Problems

Digestive System Problems

Wounds, Sores, Skin Rashes

Gynecological

Aphrodisiac, Love Potion

Headaches

Infant/Newborn Care

Poultry Diseases

Respiratory System Problems

Blood Booster

Immunity Booster

Abortion

Fish Poison, Pesticides

Snake Bite

Protection from Thugs

Figure 4. Geophyte-based remedies documented in Malawi are usually prepared in the form of (A) powders and (B) decoctions. (Photos by D. Mpalika)

Figure 5. Medicinal geophytes identified by informants in Malawi sorted into major use categories. n=71 total uses. See Tables 1&2 for details of plants and uses.



The local term mwana wa mphepo (Chichewa) which means “Child of the wind” is the common name refer-ring to plant species and the diseases that they treat. In this study, the term was allocated to seven species, all vines, one, Adenia gummifera, in the Passifloraceae is introduced to Africa from South America. The other six are native African members of the Vitaceae family: Am-pelocissus africana, Ampelocissus obtusata, Cissus aris-tolochiifolia, Cissus cornifolia, Cissus integrifolia, and Cy-phostemma junceum. The traditional category of plant species is also known to treat different types of ailments as well (Tables 1 & 2). As a condition in the body, mwana-mphepo (Chichewa, Lomwe), which is an abbreviation for mwana wa mphepo (Chichewa) refers to an upset stomach, stomach pains or sore skin.

Other Uses

Young boys used L. revoluta to catch in-sects. The bulb is ground and smeared close to where insects are flying and they get caught in the process. Dolichos kirimandscharicus and Neorautanenia mitis are used to treat poultry diseases such as Newcastle. Newcastle disease is a highly contagious zoonotic bird dis-ease affecting many domestic and wild avian species. The disease is endemic in many countries including Malawi. In some parts of Malawi, N. mitis is also used as a fish poison and is known to kill a lot of fish when sprinkled in water.

Trading of geophytes

Half of the respondents also said that they sold the underground parts espe-cially D. odoratissima which is an impor-tant famine food and D. anomala which is popular amongst herbalists and is sold as a single tuber or as a pile. In most cases these tubers are mixed with roots belonging to different species and pro-cessed into powder. These are then sold at a price of US$7 (2006) per packet lo-cally but the price varies when the pow-der is sold to foreigners (Dr. Kaunda per-sonal communication).

Method of harvesting and availability

All respondents indicated that they har-vested the tubers by digging with hoes Figure 6) or just uprooting (Figure 7). Geophyte digging is the most destruc-tive kind of harvesting because it kills

the whole plant. Most respondents indicated that in most cases the plant died after harvesting the tubers. 72% also indicated that tuber plant species have decreased if they compare with their availability now to five to ten years ago. Despite the apparent decrease in populations of geophytes, their domestication is not popular among the public because most believe that they grow naturally in forests and that they are difficult to cultivate. During the survey, most people said that they have seen some people, especially traditional healers, grow them around their yards; the major reason being easy access for their medicinal value.

Figure 6. A respondent using a hoe to dig a tuber in Malawi. (Photo by D. Mpalika)

Figure 7. A respondent holding a Hypoxis species after uprooting it by hand in Malawi. (Photo by D. Mpalika)



89

Cluster analysis

Figure 8 illustrates similarities of responses about geo-phyte species recorded in the 15 districts surveyed and reveals the existence of two groups (one consisting of Chikwawa district, the other of the remaining 14 districts) that are largely different, separating early in the dendro-gram. Based on this cluster analysis, no districts are high-ly similar with each other and at most they form into seven groups with one, two or three districts each that are some-what similar but each other still showing much distinctive-ness. The division into groups is however not consistent with geography except in one instance: Thyolo and Mu-lanje are both from southern Malawi and are adjacent to each other.

Species accumulation curve as a measure of sampling effort

Figure 9 presents a species accumulation curve from the geophyte study of the 15 selected districts of Malawi.

The curve concludes with an upward trend indicating that sampling effort might have to be increased to accumulate more species (see Heck et al. 1975) in order to approach an asymptote.

Estimating species richness from samples

Figure 10 presents the performance of six non-parametric estimators of species richness compared with the species accumulation curve from the research. Since a good esti-mator of species richness is supposed to reach, or close-ly approach a stable horizontal asymptote sooner, i.e., with fewer samples, for this data set, Michaelis–Menten Means (MM Means) provided the least biased estimates based on small number of samples (ca. 2 samples) with Chao 2 a close second and ICE third. The rest of the esti-mators are rising parallel with the accumulation curve and seem to reach a horizontal asymptote after 15 samples. The MMMeans estimates generate the highest estimate (54 species) of species richness and Chao 2 the lowest estimate for the samples with 47 species. The bootstrap Fig 8a

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6

0,1

0,2

0,3

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0,5

0,6

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1

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larity

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Similarity

1.0

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Fig

8b

Fig

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6

0,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,9

1

Similarity

Thyolo

Mulanje

Dedza

Rumphi

Mzimba

Nkhatabay

Mchinji

Ntchisi

Lilongwe

Ntcheu

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Mwanza

Mangochi

Balaka

Chikwawa

Sim

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ty

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0

Figure 8. Phenogram cluster analysis with Sorensen Index based on presence/absence of geophyte species used in 15 districts surveyed in Malawi using PAST (Hammer & Harper 2004).



Fig 9

0

10

30

40

20

50

1 8765432 9 10 11 12 13 14 15Number of Malawi Districts Sampled

Cumulative Number of Species

Species Observed (SO)SO 95% CI Upper Bound

SO 95% CI Lower Bound

Fig

9

0103040 2050

18

76

54

32

910

1112

1314

15N

umbe

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Mal

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Sam

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Cum

ulat

ive

Num

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of S

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es

Spec

ies

Obs

erve

d (S

O)

SO 9

5% C

I Upp

er B

ound

SO 9

5% C

I Low

er B

ound

Figure 9. Species accumulation curve (middle curve) from a study of traditional use of geophytes in 15 selected districts of Malawi. Plotted with 95% confidence intervals (upper and lower curves). Analysis conducted using EstimateS (Colwell 2006).

010

3040

20

90

1 8765432 9 10 11 12 13 14 15Number of Malawi Districts Sampled

80706050

Fig 10 Cumulative Number of Species

ICEBootstrapMM Means

Jack 2Jack 1

Chao 2

Species Observed

0103040 2090

18

76

54

32

910

1112

1314

15N

umbe

r of

Mal

awi D

istr

icts

Sam

pled

80 70 60 50

Fig

10Cu

mul

ativ

e N

umbe

r of

Spe

cies

ICE

Boot

stra

pM

M M

eans

Jack

2Ja

ck 1

Chao

2

Spec

ies

Obs

erve

d

Figure 10. Species accumulation curve (species observed) from a study of traditional use of geophytes in 15 selected districts of Malawi compared with six non-parametric estimators of species richness (ICE, Chao 2, first order and second-order Jackknife, bootstrap and Michaelis–Menten Means) for the same data set. Descriptions and formulas of the species richness estimators used may be found in Colwell & Coddington (1994). The sample order was randomized 100 times to compute the mean estimator and expected species richness for each sample accumulation level the end result of which was a smooth curve. Analysis conducted using EstimateS (Colwell 2006) and following the protocol of Williams et al. (2007). Estimators of species richness-non-parametric estimates were used since these require no assumptions of plant community structure.

estimator however best approximated the known species richness followed by Chao 2.

Discussion and Conclusions

In the present study, members of the family Hyacinthaceae were less popu-lar with only 3 species (6% of the 49) probably because people are spoilt with choices from other plants, both geo-phytes and non-geophytes, with which they could treat various diseases. In ad-dition to this, we noticed that plants in the Hyacinthaceae were scarce in the field. This could be because most are low lying species growing in grasslands, hence they can be very cryptic. Although Hyacinthaceae were less popular in this study, members of the family have been documented elsewhere (Arnold et al. 2002) as being used for medicinal pur-poses ranging from the treatment of hangovers, rheumatic fever, sprains, syphilis, cancer, pneumonia the current study documented only 3 species of the family as being used as food and medi-cine Although the family is quite promi-nent in ethnomedicine, a few species have been chemically investigated so far (Louw et al. 2002). In addition to this, the family suffers from serious taxonom-ic problems and is in need of revision (Manning 2004, Stedje 1996).

This research has indicated that peo-ple use more underground parts that above ground parts of geophytes. The reason people say that they use more underground parts than leaves (90%) is the fact that leaves are less bitter than tubers hence they believe that the con-centration of the compounds is more in the tubers than in leaves.

Bulbous plants, though studied less in-tensively than herbs and trees regarding their medicinal potential, have proven to contain a range of unique biologically active compounds. The presence of ste-roids, cardiac glycosides and alkaloids in some species can often indicate tox-icity. Several studies have documented poisoning with symptoms such as diar-rhoea, abdominal pain, emphysema and increased pulse rate, which can be fatal (Louw et al. 2002, Van Wyk et al.1997).



91

The present study similarly reports that bitter tubers used as food such as Dioscorea are boiled for long periods decanting water in the process of cooking to reduce the amount of poison. Similarly, species used as medicines are also diluted in water and taken in low doses because the respondents indicated that decoctions could prove to be fatal if taken in highly concentrated doses. The amount of poison is determined by tongue testing.

Dioscorea odoratissima is a famous famine food plant in most districts of Malawi and is also known to be rare. Members of this genus are also widely used around the world for both food and medicine. Wild yam species (e.g., Dioscorea villosa L. and Dioscorea batatas Decne.) have for centuries been used as sources of medicine and food by the Aztec and Mayan peoples for a wide range of ail-ments including many female problems and to relieve the pain of child birth (Bergeron 1997). The other famine food which is said to be rare is Nymphaea caerulea. Its tubers are known to have a higher calcium, phosphorus, and fat-ty acids (Chawanje 1998).

In this study, boiling of tubers used as food sources was very common and respondents said this act has a double function; enhancing the flavour of the tubers and reduc-ing the poison which they contain. [This method is univer-sally used around the world (Arnold et al. 2002, Banguar 1993).

Morris (1989) and Hargreaves (1994) identified 50 kinds of mwana wa mphepo and saw this category as not spe-cific but referring to plants which store water and are able to produce flowers and leaves during the windy season. The problem with this definition is that not all such plants are mwana wa mphepo. This is probably why folk tax-onomy is very difficult to adopt because it may repre-sent different behavioral responses of people related to the salience of each organism (Hays 1982). Furthermore, Brown (1985) pointed out that people’s vocabulary is re-lated to their long-term interests. There is need to further research this term and see if indeed it is related to plant form and function or behavior of the people using the spe-cies included in this phenomenon. The term also contains unresolved species and hence more research into spe-cies delimitation and taxonomy is needed since certain-ty in species identification is a precondition for access to published species information related to, e.g., botany, eth-nopharmacology, conservation and propagation (Krog et al. 2006). Proper species identification is also important in relation to consumer safety.

Species accumulation curves are known to enhance the value of ethnobotanical studies and create an opportunity for cogent arguments that advance scientific and practical knowledge (Williams et al. 2007). A comparative test of species estimators in the present study raises a question of survey sampling sufficiency because of failure of 4 out of 6 estimators to approach a horizontal asymptote. It is

clear from these curves that more sampling was required and would have increased the species inventory.

The geophyte survey was driven by the need to document the use of Liliopsid monocots of family Hyacinthaceae and assess their conservation status. It is apparent from the survey that members of the Fabaceae and Asteraceae are more sought after for food and medicine than Lilioid monocots evidenced by fewer hyacinthoide representa-tives mentioned by respondents.

The most common anthropogenic pressure to all geo-phytes is tuber digging and clearing of woodlands for farming. The survey listed about 49 plant species that are most utilized. This number only represents a small propor-tion of all geophytes in Malawi. Some species were not re-ported here because they could not be spotted during field searches. Future work is therefore needed especially to go through the existing literature which will help generate new research ideas. Although this study has identified 49 geophytes from Malawi the actual number is not known. This problem is compounded by lack of a national check-list which usually acts as a guideline for such surveys. Support should also be provided for more taxonomic work in problematic genera, more ethnobotanical surveys and research towards sustainable use and conservation of these plants.

Acknowledgements

The current work was funded by the Norwegian Coun-cil for Higher Education’s Programme for Development Research and Education (NUFU). Thanks is also due to Donald Mpalika, Edwin Kathumba and Moffat Thera (Her-barium Technicians) for helping with administering ques-tionnaires and plant identification, the National Herbari-um and Botanic Gardens of Malawi for providing transport and the driver and for helping out with all necessary field arrangements.

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Documents

Ethnobotanical Study of Hyacinthaceae and Non-hyacinthaceous