Volume 173, 15 September 2015, Pages 20–38
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
Rodrigues
is an autonomous outer island that form part of the Republic of
Mauritius and one of three islands that constitute the Mascarene
archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Though herbal medicine is in common use
in Rodrigues, there has been no ethnopharmacological study to document
quantitatively such traditional practise particularly against
non-communicable diseases (NCD) which is currently a growing major
health issue on the island. The aim of the present study was to collect,
analyse and document traditionally used medicinal plants (MP) from key
informants and traditional medicine practitioners (TMP) in the tropical
island of Rodrigues to treat and/or manage common NCD.
Materials and methods
Data was collected via face-to-face interviews with MP users (n=113) and TMP (n=9).
Seven quantitative ethnopharmacological indices, namely family use
value (FUV), use value (UV), informant agreement ratio (IAR), relative
frequency of citation (RFC), fidelity level (FL), relative importance
(RI) and ethnobotanicity index (EI) were calculated.
Results
Hundred
and three plants belonging to 55 families were recorded for the
treatment and/or management of 27 different NCD. Three of the MP (Terminalia bentzoë (L.) L.F, Sarcostemma cf. adontolepis Balf.f. and Clerodendrum laciniatum Balf.f.) recorded are endemic to Rodrigues and 2 (Carissa xylopicron Thouars., Phyllanthus casticum Willemet f.) endemic to the Mascarene Islands. The most solicited MP family was Asteraceae with a total of 8 species. Citrus aurantifolia
(Christm.) Swingle scored the highest RFC (RFC=1.02) value. Ten plants
were found to score 100% FL and the highest IAR (0.98) was observed for
the disease category of certain conditions originating in the perinatal
period. Arecaceae scored the highest FUV value and Ayapana triplinervis (Vahl) R.M. King et H.Rob highest UV (UV= 2.72).
Conclusion
Given
the dearth of updated information on traditional medicine of Rodrigues,
this study can provide an opportunity to establish valuable primary
information on the different MP used by the local people and hence can
open new perspectives for further pharmacological research.
Graphical abstract
Abbreviations
- NCD, non-communicable diseases;
- FUV, family use value;
- UV, use value;
- IAR, informant agreement ratio;
- RFC, relative frequency of citation;
- FL, fidelity level;
- RI, relative importance;
- EI, ethnobotanicity index;
- IPNI, International Plant Name Index;
- IUCN, international union for conservation of nature;
- UV, use value;
- MP, medicinal plants;
- MOHQL, Ministry of Health and Quality of Life;
- TM, traditional medicine;
- WHO, World Health Organization
Keywords
- Rodrigues;
- Medicinal plants;
- Republic of Mauritius;
- Mascarene archipelago;
- Non-communicable diseases
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