Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants Used By the Traditional Medical Healers in the Villages of Bérégadougou and Fabédougou (Cascades Region, Burkina Faso).

Abstract

Bacground:An ethnobotanical study carried out in two localities of Cascades Region (Bérégadougou and Fabédougou) and aimed to collect data on medicinal plants (MP) from the traditional medical practitioners and to identify the medicinal plants used for treating ailments. Methods :Questionnaires were given to the informants represented by a group of traditional medical faith healers within the framework of open-ended conversations. Field trips have been also necessary to perform the data collection. Results:The survey recorded 95 plant species belonging to 60 plant families, 80 genera used in the treatment of diseases in the 2 villages. The most dominant families were represented by Caesalpiniaceae (9,47 %), followed by Rubiaceae (6,31 %), Combretaceae (5,26 %), Apocynaceae, Asteraceae and Solanaceae (3,15 % for the three families). The leaves represented 55 % as predominant part of medicinal recipes, followed by the roots (35 %) and the others (flowers, stem or barks) less than 10 %. Concerning the traditional method of drug preparation, the decoction was the most commonly utilized. Moreover, the plants inventoried in the study area showed two interesting profiles: solely medicinal profile (leaves), dietary profile as edible food plants (fruits); some of them presented the two combined properties. Conclusion:The field trips carried out in the two villages and around revealed a great richness of the study area in term of medicinal plants species. And in addition to their knowledge in medicinal plants domain, the faith healers met in Bérégadougou and Fabédougou possess also solid knowledge in the healthcare of plenty pathologies existing in the two visited villages.