Local indigenous knowledge about some medicinal plants in and around Kakamega forest in western Kenya.

ABSTRACT: Kakamega forest is Kenya's only rainforest and is distinguishably rich in biodiversity but threatened by agricultural encroachment and other forms of human activity. It is also one of Kenya's Important Bird Areas and a significant source of natural products to neighboring rural communities, such as medicinal plants, food, wood and other fibers. By using structured questionnaires for direct interviews, local indigenous knowledge was tapped through involvement of a focal group of elderly key informants in three blocks of the forest. Forty key species of medicinal plants used by local people were identified and recorded. Fifty-five percent of these were shrubs, thirty-two percent trees, seven-and-a-half percent lower plants such as herbs or forbs while five percent were climbers. About sevent

SUBMITTER: Otieno NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3954169 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature