THE ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL STUDY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY SPECIALIST THERAPISTS OF THE KOM-MENGAME FOREST CONSERVATION COMPLEX, SOUTH CAMEROON

Since time immemorial, medicinal plants have been widely used for primary health care by human communities and the associated knowledge was transmitted through generations. But the medicinal knowledge and practices that traditional societies have accumulated are rapidly disappearing as traditional cultures and knowledge weaken with modern society homogenization. The undertaking of this study was to identify medicinal plants and to document their traditional uses in the Kom-Mengame forest conservation complex (South Cameroon). To achieve this objective we carried out an ethnobotanical survey during 45 days in the forest where semi-structured interviews were conducted with local therapists. A total of 47 informants including 2 Baka hunter-gatherers and 45 Fang participated in the survey. The informant consensus was calculated to evaluate the variability of the use of medicinal plants and to determine whether plants are of particular interest in the research of bioactive ingredients. Relative importance index of the use of plant species was also evaluated by calculating the Medicinal Importance (MI). The Informants’ Consensus Factor (F_ICF) ranged between 0.25 and 1.0, revealing a high homogeneity in the majority of the reported illness categories. The highest values of informant consensus factor were obtained for hemiplegia and ears’ diseases. A total of 40 plants used by local specialist therapists known very well in the community were recorded. The present set of ethnobotanical information is important with regards of the potential development of cheaper and more available drugs for various diseases.