A lexicon of plants traded in the Witwatersrand umuthi shops, South Africa

Abstract

At least 511 medicinal plant species are traded commercially in 50 Witwatersrand umuthi shops. The plants are listed alphabetically by genus and common (vernacular) name. The orthographic vernacular names, as well as the orthographic variations in these names, are incorporated into the list. Annotations include the plant family, the number of umuthi shops stocking the species, the language of the common name, and the plant part traded. The plant family in the region which has the highest number of species and infraspecific taxa in trade is Liliaceae sensu lato., followed in descending order by Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae and Amaryllidaceae. Approximately 88.6% of the vernacular names are in Zulu. The mean number of umuthi shops per species is 12.3, ranging from 1 to 41. Three hundred and fifty three species (69.2%) occur in the four northern provinces, and 23 species are listed as threatened on the Red Data List.