ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES USE AND MANAGEMENT OF MEDICINAL PLANTS BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF EJAJI AREA (CHELYA WOREDA) WEST SHOA, ETHIOPIA: AN ETHNOBOTANICAL APPROACH BY ENDALEW AMENU A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN SCIENCE IN DRYLAND BIODIVERSITY ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA JUNE, 2007 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my Advisors Dr. Zemede Asfew and Dr.Sileshi Nemomissa for their consistent invaluable advice, comments and follow up right from start to the completion of my work. I would like to thank local people of Chelya woreda for their hospitality and kind response to my inquiries on information about the medicinal plants, Woreda health center and Woreda veterinary clinic for their provision of data on major health problems and health facilities of the Woreda, Woreda Agricultural and Rural Development Office for various basic data concerning vegetation and climate of the Woreda and at last, Woreda Administration Office for the supportive letter I got from them to move in the rural kebeles and to have cooperation from local leaders & people. I am very much indebted to my father Amenu Edessa, my wife Sisaye Hinsermu and my brother Asefa Amenu for their moral support and encouragements in the course of my study. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………….i Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………....ii List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………..v List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………...vi List of Appendices……………………………………………………………………………...vii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………..viii 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Objectives ............................................................................................................................. 3 1.2.1 General objective ........................................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Specific objectives ......................................................................................................... 3 2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Origin and development of ethnobotany............................................................................... 4 2.2 Indigenous knowledge .......................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Traditional medicinal plants ............................................................................................... 6 2.4 Medicinal plants and ethnomedicine in Ethiopia.................................................................. 7 2.4.1 Traditional medicinal plants in public health care system............................................. 7 2.4.2 Plants in ethnoveterinary medicine.............................................................................. 8 2.5 Threats to and conservation of Traditional Medicinal Plants (TMPs) in Ethiopia............. 10 2.5.1 Threats to medicinal plants. ......................................................................................... 10 2.5.2 Conservation of TMPs ................................................................................................. 10 3. Description of the study area ................................................................................................. 12 3.1 Geographical location ......................................................................................................... 12 3.2 Climate................................................................................................................................ 14 3.3 Population and medical services......................................................................................... 14 3.4 Livestock............................................................................................................................. 15 3.5 Land use.............................................................................................................................. 16 3.6 Vegetation........................................................................................................................... 17 4. Materials and Methods........................................................................................................... 19 4.1 Reconnaissance survey ....................................................................................................... 19 4.2 Informant selection ............................................................................................................. 19 ii 4.3 Data collection .................................................................................................................... 19 4.4 Specimen Collection ........................................................................................................... 20 4.5 Specimen identification ...................................................................................................... 20 4.6 Vegetation description ........................................................................................................ 21 4.7 Description of most frequently used medicinal plants........................................................ 21 4.8 Major plant use categories .................................................................................................. 21 4.9 Data Analysis..................................................................................................................... 22 4.9.1 Descriptive statistics .................................................................................................... 22 4.9.2 Informant consensus .................................................................................................... 22 4.9.3 Preference ranking ....................................................................................................... 22 4.9.4 Paired comparison....................................................................................................... 23 4.9.5 Direct matrix ranking................................................................................................... 23 4.9.6 Fidelity level index ...................................................................................................... 24 5. Results and Discussion............................................................................................................ 25 5.1 Indigenous knowledge on health ........................................................................................ 25 5.2 Botanical and ecological indigenous knowledge................................................................ 25 5.2.1 Soil classification by indigenous people...................................................................... 25 5.2.2 Land form classification .............................................................................................. 26 5.2.2.1 Use based land classification by indigenous people................................................. 26 5.2.2.2 Topographic land classification ................................................................................ 27 5.2.3 Indigenous vegetation classification............................................................................ 28 5.3 Visual vegetation classification .......................................................................................... 28 5.4 Plant resources of the study area....................................................................................... 30 5.4.1 Major plant use categories by people of the study area............................................... 30 5.4.2 Frequency of tree species in the study area ................................................................. 32 5.5 Ethnomedicinal plant species used by people of the study area ....................................... 33 5.5.1 Distribution of medicinal plants in plant community types......................................... 34 5.5.2 Habit, preparation and administration methods........................................................... 35 5.5.3 Medicinal plant species used to treat human diseases ................................................. 39 5.5.3.1 Major human diseases and number of plant species used by indigenous people ..... 42 5.5.3.2 Description of the most frequently reported medicinal plants used to treat human ailments…………………………………………………… ... ……….........43 5.5.4 Medicinal plant species used to treat livestock health problems ............................... 46 iii 5.5.4.1 Major livestock diseases and number of plant species used by indigenous people of the study area ………………….. .................................................. 49 5.5.4.2 Description of the most frequently reported medicinal plant species used to treat livestock ................................................................................................................. 50 5.5.5 Medicinal plant species used to treat both livestock and human ailments ................ 52 5.4.5.1 Habit, preparation and methods of application....................................................... 52 5.5.5.2 Description of the most