Historical versus contemporary medicinal plant uses in Ghana.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology 160 (2015) 109–132

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Research Paper

Historical versus contemporary medicinal plant uses in Ghana Soelberg J.a,c,n, Asase A.b, Akwetey G.b, Jäger A.K.c a b c

Museum of Natural Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Botany, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 55 Legon, Ghana Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 18 August 2014 Received in revised form 21 November 2014 Accepted 21 November 2014 Available online 2 December 2014

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Three extraordinary, historical documents stemming from observations made in 1697, 1803 and 1817 quote medicinal plant uses among the Fante, Ga and Ashanti people of present-day Ghana, and can be linked to original botanical specimens in European herbaria. This provides a unique opportunity to gain insight to the historical materia medica of Ghana and compare this to contemporary medicinal plant uses. By critical literary and taxonomic review, the present study (re-) establishes the earliest known history of many important Ghanaian medicinal plants, and assesses the scale of change and loss of medicinal plant knowledge in Ghana over time. The study provides the foundation to reconstruct lost or discontinued Ghanaian plant uses in local or ethnopharmacological contexts. Materials and methods: Historical botanical specimens were located in the herbaria of University of Copenhagen Herbarium (C) and British Museum of Natural History (BM). The classification and synonymy of the specimens were updated for the study, and the historical vernacular names and medicinal uses of the plants compared with 20th/21st century literature. The plants of the historical Ga materia medica were (re-)collected to aid in semi-structured interviews. The interviews aimed to document the contemporary uses and names of the plants among the Ga, and to determine to what extent the historical medicinal uses and names are extant. Results and discussion: The study identified 100 species in historical medicinal use in Ghana, which could be linked to 134 unique uses and 105 vernacular names in Twi (Ashanti/Fante) and Ga. Most of the plants are common in Ghana. At least 52% of the historical vernacular names appear to still be in use today. Of the specific historical uses, 41 (31%) were traced among contemporary medicinal plant uses in Ghana and represent some of the most important Ghanaian medicinal plant species. However, 93 (69%) of the historical uses could not be traced and appears to be discontinued or forgotten. Among the Ga, two medicinal plants species have become rare or locally extinct, and thus the vast majority of the loss of knowledge appears to be due to cultural extinction. Conclusions: The scientifically strong voucher material allowed for identification of a high number of historical medicinal plants and their roots in traditional Ghanaian medicine systems 2–300 years ago. The materia medica of the Fante, Ga and Ashanti of Ghana has changed considerably over time. The “forgotten” historical uses warrant further studies to determine the pharmacological activity of these plants. This could provide the foundation for reconstruction of historical medicinal plant uses in evidence-based modern contexts. & 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Historical materia medica Ethnopharmacology Ga Ashanti Fante Ghana

1. Introduction The rich history of the West African cultures and their interactions with Nature extends back millennia, having for a long time been passed down through generations solely by oral tradition. Written records of West Africa only began with the arrival of

n Corresponding author at: Museum of Natural Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. Tel.: þ 45 3532 7900. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Soelberg).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2014.11.036 0378-8741/& 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Europeans, who exchanged guns and commodities for human beings in the 16th–19th centuries as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Extraordinarily, the works of three unique individuals stand out in this sad and inhumane context, by being intellectual exchanges: descriptions and documentations of local knowledge of medicinal plants, their properties and their names. For the Fante, Ga and Ashanti people in present-day Ghana (Fig. 1), there exists documentation of their materia medica and traditional medicine practice dating back to 1697, 1803 and 1817, respectively. Of ethnopharmacological interest, one of the earliest historical sources to West Africa, then known as Guinea, is the observations of the Dutch merchant Willem Bosman. He

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J. Soelberg et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 160 (2015) 109–132

more successful in the practice of Physick than the European Preparations…” (Bosman, 1703). However, lacking skills as a botanist, Bosman did not describe the specific uses of plants. In 1695–97, John Smyth, a minister of the Anglican Church, collected plants in the Cape Coast area. He was likely the first scientific plant collector in Sub-Saharan Africa (Hepper and Neate, 1971). His observations from Cape Coast are published in a letter from the apothecary James Petiver to Hans Sloane titled “A Catalogue of some Guinea-Plants with their Native Names and Virtues” (Petiver, 1697). The letter lists 40 plants and vernacular names and local uses, with pre-Linnaean names or descriptions. This ethnomedicinal information can be linked to the original specimens (Fig. 2) kept in the Hans Sloane collection (BM-SL, British Museum of Natural History). These extraordinary, ethnobotanical vouchers were botanically identified and reviewed by botanist J.B. Hall in 1966 (unpublished). In addition to the published letter, the herbarium collection adds a further four specimens, with uses and vernacular names. The Cape Coast area was in 1697, as well as now, mainly inhabited by the Fante. Henry Tedlie (1792–1818) participated in Bowdich's mission from Cape Coast to the Ashanti capital of Kumasi in 1817. He died shortly after the expedition, and before he was able to analyse his collections. Botanist Robert Brown reviewed the specimens in London in 1818 and determined 15 to species level, of which three served as type specimens. These were published along with 38 Ashanti plant names and their medicinal uses among the Ashanti, as well as a list of prevalent diseases which Tedlie observed in the kingdom (Bowdich, 1819). Unlike the collections of John Smyth, Tedlie's specimens were not kept separate, and have been dispersed into the herbaria of Kew (K) and British Museum of Natural History (BM). The area around Kumasi is still predominantly inhabited by Ashanti. The Ashanti and the Fante are the two largest ethnic groups of the Akan peoples of Ghana, which in 2010 counted 11.5 million people or 47.5% of the total population (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012). Peter Thonning (Fig. 3), a physician and trained botanist, was in 1799–1803 sent out by the Danish government to assess the viability of establishing colonial plantations in the Danish sphere of influence on the Guinea Coast, i.e. roughly from present-day Accra to the Volta River, and inland to Akuapem. Out of Thonning's astonishing collection, more than a thousand specimens survived the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807. Thonning's plants are most often considered together with the collections of another Dane (although born German); Paul Isert who collected in the same area 1783–86, and wrote about his experiences and observations in a series of letters (Isert, 1788). However, Isert adds very

Fig. 1. Map of Ghana showing the centers of the areas traditionally inhabited by the Fante (Cape Coast), Ashanti (Kumasi) and Ga (Accra).

stood, in his own words, amazed by the capabilities of the local plants and the curing skills of the natives, and wrote: “The chief Medicaments here in use, are first and more especially Limon or Lime-Juice, Malaget, otherwise called the Grains of Paradise, or the Cardamom, the Roots, Branches, and Gumms of Trees, about thirty several sorts of green Herbs, which are impregnated with an extraordinary sanative Virtue.”. And, “The green Herbs, the principal Remedy in use amongst the Negroes, are of such wonderful Efficacy, that ‘tis much to be deplored that no European Physicians has yet applyed himself to the discovery of their Nature and Virtue; for I don't only imagine, but firmly believe, that they would prove

Fig. 2. Specimen of Cnestis ferruginea collected by John Smyth in 1695–97 around Cape Coast.


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based on direct observation or second-hand information; or to what extend the medicinal plant uses described represented general or specialized knowledge at the time. The present paper reviews all the plant identities, historical medicinal uses and vernacular names and compares these with names and uses recorded in recent (20th/21st century) literature. The ethnomedicinal observations of Peter Thonning among the Ga people in 1799–1803, have furthermore been chosen for a direct comparison with contemporary medicinal plant uses among the Ga in 2013/14. There is a widespread concern among scientists and traditional practitioners that valuable knowledge of natural resources, especially medicinal plants with pharmacological potential, is lost due to threats such as cultural changes and/or habitat-loss. Our aim is to assess the scale of actual change or loss of knowledge and availability of medicinal plants over a two to three hundred year period of time. And secondly, to draw attention to a possible loss of Ghanaian medicinal plant uses and provide a foundation for applicable reconstruction of these plant uses in both local settings and/or at a broader, ethnopharmacologically evidence-based level.

2. Materials and methods 2.1. Herbarium studies and literature review

Fig. 3. Peter Thonning (1775–1848), Danish botanist and physician, collected plants used among Ga people in 1799–1803.

little to Thonning's extensive ethnobotanical observations. In Hepper's taxonomic review (Hepper, 1976) Thonning's and Isert's specimens represented 610 species, of which 474 are type specimens. A total of 203 of the scientific species names are still in use today. Ethnobotanically, Thonning's work is an exceptional resource. Thonning noted Ga names of some 150 locally used plants, and gave detailed descriptions of their use as medicines, crops, wild edibles, dyes, construction material, ceremonial and magical uses, etc., as well as their habitat, abundance, even flowering time. His notes and descriptions were published in Danish (Schumacher, 1827). Thonning also drew detailed maps of the Ga plain and surrounding areas which also record his travelling routes (Hopkins, 2012), a valuable resource from a time when many specimens were simply labelled as “collected in Guinea”. Thonning made some 60 descriptions of medicinal or magico-medical (“fetisch”) uses, often detailing preparation, administration and perceived effect. In a review, the Danish Professor Hornemann wrote that the notes “with which Mr. Councillor of State Thonning enriched the work regarding the medicinal and economic uses of the Guinean plants among the negroes, are not unimportant…, and it is not improbable that several of the plants of these nations' materia medica could be introduced as efficacious medicaments in Europe […]” (Hornemann, 1827). Thonning's extraordinary ethnobotanical observations were much later translated to German (Ascherson, 1879) and English (Hepper, 1976). The Ga people still constitute a considerable ethnic minority in Ghana. Formally the Ga are considered part of the Ga-Dangme ethnicity which in 2010 counted 1.8 million people or 7.4% of the total population (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012). The geographical area where Thonning learned of Ga plant names and uses has, in many parts, undergone extensive urbanization and ethnic diversification. The extraordinary works of Smyth, Thonning and Tedlie represent the earliest known documentation of identifiable Ghanaian medicinal plants. Nonetheless, in a modern ethnobotanical context they all have various short-comings. Not much is known of the circumstances in which they were gathered; whether they were

A database of early historical medicinal plants and their uses in Ghana was compiled from the works of John Smyth (Petiver, 1697), Henry Tedlie (Bowdich, 1819) and Peter Thonning (Schumacher, 1827). Due to the pharmacological framework of the study, plants with therapeutic effects purely ascribed to spiritual reasons or simply regarded as “wholesome” were not included. To the extent possible, the physical presence and identities of the historical specimens were reviewed in the herbaria of University of Copenhagen (C) for Peter Thonning, the British Natural History Museum (BM) for Henry Tedlie (the specimens supposedly in Kew (K) were not reviewed in this study), and the Hans Sloane collection (BMSL) for John Smyth. Classifications were made with Flora of West Tropical Africa (Hutchinson et al., 1954–72), and the accepted names of the plant species were retrieved from The Plant List (2014). A literature-based comparison of the historical medicinal plants with recent (20st century) uses was made using the reference work “The Useful plants of West Tropical Africa” by Burkill (2000), as well as the online Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (2014) and other online and literary sources. 2.2. Field study area and plant collection Botanical specimens were collected for voucher material, to assess the availability of plants and for reference material for the use in interviews. Collections were done by the main author in cooperation with the Department of Botany, University of Ghana. Specimens were collected in triplets: one for interviews, and two for deposition in the herbariums of the University of Ghana (GC) and the University of Copenhagen (C). All plants were collected within the Greater Accra region and Eastern region of Ghana during November–January 2013/14 (accession numbers JS200301) (Tables 1–3). 2.3. Interviews The aim of the interviews was to document and compare Ga people's contemporary vernacular names and uses of the medicinal plant known from Peter Thonning's observations in 1799–1803. A fixed set of the 47 historically documented plant species, consisting of (new) dried plant vouchers and photographs mounted in a book,

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Table 1 Historical (1695-97) and 20th/21st century medicinal plant names and uses among Fante. Species

Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name

Names recorded in 20th cent. literaturea

Historical use

A. Historical medicinal plant use same or similar in 20th/21st century literature Cardiospermum Sapindaceae 261 Issong ASANTE asuani “Put in water, and the head washed halicacabum L. FANTE esuan cures the head-ache.”

Uses documented 20th/21st cent. literaturea

The whole plant emits a pungent smell which is inhaled for headache [1962] or is used as a wash [1992], as well as other uses.

Cnestis ferruginea Connaraceae Vahl ex DC.

263

Aputtasy

The bitter and acid pulp is rubbed on the teeth to “The teeth being washed with a ASANTE aposé FANTE akitasé TWI decoction of this in water, is good for clean and whiten them [1953, 1961, 1970]nn the scurvy in the mouth.” aposé

Deinbollia pinnata Schum. & Thonn. Dichapetalum madagascariense Poir.

Sapindaceae

202

Heinecoe

TWI mbaata; woagye awounipa

Dichapetalaceae

229

Tetruma

FANTE ekumnkura TWI kumnkura

Leguminosae

209

Caggow

ASANTE kagya FANTE kagya TWI kagya

Indigofera hirsuta Leguminosae L.

236

Attrumaphoe –

220

Tuffo

FANTE mfufu TWI mfufu, nfufu

257

Concon

–

Griffonia simplicifolia (Vahl ex DC.) Baill.

Melanthera scandens (Schumach. & Thonn.) Roberty

Compositae

Capparaceae Ritchiea reflexa (Thonn.) Gilg & Benedict

“Boiled in wine, is good for the belly- Uses include leaf-sap and pulp of young shoots ache.” internally and externally as analgesic for bronchial affections, cough, bronchitis and intercostal and intestinal pain [1990]. “Pounded to powder and applied to a Uses includes the plant being crushed to a whitlow, breaks it.” powder and rubbed over swellings [1937, 1961].

“Boiled in water and wash the teeth, Stem and root used for chew-stick [1937,1957]nn, is good for the tooth-ache.” as well various other [medicinal] uses.

“Boiled and drunk, causes the great Leaf-decoction for yaws [1930]. Note, both yaws sort of pox [syphilis] to skin and dry.” and syphilis is caused by Treponema pallidum [bacteria], similar use in Senegal and Nigeria. “Is very good for the eyes, boiled in Multiple uses across West Africa. In Ivory Coast water, and the eyes washed with the leaf-sap is used for eye troubles, trachoma [1950], and eye drops in syncope [1974]. decoction thereof.”

Pounded leaves on abscesses and to treat guinea“Pounded and mixed with oil, kills the worms in the legs, by annointing worm [1961]. with it.”

B. Historical medicinal plant use not traceable in 20th/21st century literature, but plant with other medicinal uses Sapindaceae 206 Atanta TWI tetudua “Is very good to put in broth for a sick Root bark in hot infusion a remedy for diarrhoea Allophylus man or woman, it causing strength.” [1937, 1961]. spicatus (Poir.) Radlk. Toxic. Several medicinal uses in West Africa, but Astraea lobata Euphorbiaceae 238 Mening TWI akonansa; “Dried and made into powder and (L.) Klotzsch gka; mafansu snuff, is good for the stoppage of the none related to “stoppage of the head”. head.” Baphia nitida Leguminosae 228 Unguin FANTE ekwin; “Boiled and drunk is good for the Root bark for asthma and as haemostatic and Lodd. odwen pain in the back.” wrapping for sores [1983], but no uses related to back-ache. Compositae 244 Afto FANTE afun nena “Dried to powder and snuffed is good Leaves applied to cuts [1930] and prepared as Blumea viscosa for the headache.” enema for constipation and dysentery [1930]. (Mill.) V.M. Badillo Boerhavia sp. Nyctaginaceae 281 Antarara for B. diffusa þB. “Boiled and drunk is good for the flux Herb-decoction for asthma, roots as poultice on repens: [diarrhoea/dysentery].”n abscesses, ulcers, guinea-worm, to cure yaws on feet and restore virility. ASANTE mmofra ode FANTE ntrada TWI kokodwe. “Boiled and drunk, causes to vomit.” Several medicinal uses in West Africa, but none as Leguminosae 227 Bumbunny FANTE dundum Dichrostachys vomitive. TWI akeyekyerecinerea (L.) besi Wight & Arn. Euphorbia lateriflora Schumach. Ficus sp.

Euphorbiaceae

–

Santoo

Moraceae

267

Adeduecuma for F. sur: TWI odoma;

Flacourtia flavescens Willd.

Salicaceae

249

Ascindoe

TWI nkamfobarima

okotre-amfo TWI piti piti

“Chewed is good for cold.”n

Various medicinal uses in West Africa, but none recorded for Ghana.

“Boiled in water and so, dip a cloth in Multiple medicinal uses in West Africa. the water and rub the ribs is very good for the pain hereof.”n

“Boiled and the water drunk is good Stem chewed to cure diarrhoeic conditions [1930, for the running in the reins [genital 1961]. discharge].”


113

Table 1 (continued ) Uses documented 20th/21st cent. literaturea

Species

Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name


Gossypium sp.

Malvaceae

276

Assaba

FANTE asaaba TWI “Warmed in water, and the groin asawa rubbed in it, is good for a buboe [enlarged lymph node].”

Lantana camara L. Ludwigia octovalvis (Jacq.) P.H. Raven Mallotus oppositifolius (Geiseler) Müll.Arg.

Verbenaceae

300

Onagraceae

218

Ambettuway TWI ananse dokono Unnena –

“Boiled and drunk, causes an appetite to any sick person.” “Boiled, and the legs washed in the water, abates their swelling.”

Multiple uses in West Africa; but none as appetite-stimulant. Considered to have analgesic properties, used with other plants for rheumatic pain [1937].

Euphorbiaceae

208

Canto

ASANTE anyanforowa FANTE saka; seratadua TWI anyanforowa

“Boiled and drunk is good for the runnings (I suppose of the reins) [genital discharge].”

All parts of plant used for dysentery [1937, 1937].

Newbouldia laevis (P . Beauv.) Seem. Pupalia lappacea (L.) Juss.

Bignoniaceae

216

Santeo

FANTE esisimansa

Various medicinal uses in across West Africa, though none eye-related recorded.

Amaranthaceae

239

Tetrephoe

FANTE akukuaba

“Boiled and the eyes washed with the water, takes away any film or pearl.” “Boiled in broth is good for the flux [diarrhoea/dysentery].”

247

Affunnema

Leguminosae

234

Amea

TWI akyere-nkura TWI nyanko sonmina –

Verbenaceae

233

Assrumina

–

Menispermaceae 242

Aguaguin

FANTE dsidse

Menispermaceae 245

Emphrue

–

Scoparia dulcis L. Plantaginaceae Senna occidentalis (L.) Link Stachytarpheta indica (L.) Vahl Tiliacora warneckei Endl. Ex Diels Triclisia subcordata Oliv.

Historical use

“Boiled and drunk causes a stool.”

Various medicinal uses in West Africa, but none related to lymph nodes.

Leaf-soup for cough [1930]; with oil to treat boils [1930].

“Dried into powder and snuffed, stops the bleeding.”

Multiple uses in West Africa; but no records as purgative in Ghana. Various medicinal uses across West Africa, but none as haemostatic.

“Pounded and rubbed on the legs, kills the worms that lives there.” “Made into plaster and applied to a cut, cures it.”

Various medicinal uses in Ghana, but none related to guinea worm infection. Gastric fever, hernia, menstrual irregularities [1973], but none related to wounds.

“Boiled and drunk, causes strength in Oedema, anaemia, diarrhoea and joint pain the sickness.” [1983].

C. Historical medicinal plants without medicinal uses in 20th/21st century literature Connaraceae 277 Acroe AKAN homabiri “Boiled in wine and drunk is good to No medicinal use in Ghana. However, in Ivory Agelaea TWI aposé recover strength.” Coast as leaf-decoction for women who has pentagyna newly delivered [1950] and root bark as (Lam.) Baill. aphrodisiac [1974]. Capparis brassii DC

Capparaceae

240

Obrang

for C. erythrocarpus: FANTE okyerabran

“Boiled in water, and so wash the cods [testicles or scrotum], is good for the swelling.”

Dichapetalum oblongum (Hook.f. ex Benth.) Engl. Ehretia cymosa Thonn. Enydra fluctuans DC. Ficus thonningii Blume Flueggea virosa (Roxb. ex Willd.) Royle Ipomoea cairica (L.) Sweet

Dichapetalaceae

229

Asasi

–

“Boiled and so kept in the mouth, is No use good for the tooth-ache.”

Boraginaceae

–

sunkcoe

TWI okosua

Compositae

274

Apobee

–

Moraceae

288

Dinjohn

–

Phyllanthaceae

252

Asserida

ASANTE nkanaa

“Boiled in broth and drunk is good for the belly-ache.”n “Boiled and drunk, is good for the small pox.” “Warmed at the fire, and applied to a boil, breaks it.” “Chewed it is very good for the bellyache.”

Convolvulaceae

228

Dancreta

FANTE supripi

Celastraceae

–

Aconcroba

–

Leguminosae

275

Aclowa

–

Stylosanthes Leguminosae erecta P.Beauv. Teramnus labialis Leguminosae (L.f.) Spreng.

273

Cuttofoe

–

232

Sora

–

Salacia senegalensis (Lam) DC. Sesbania sericea (Willd.) Link

No use

No use No use No use No use

No medicinal use. Fibres from stems are made “Boiled in water, and if the head is hot, washed in the water, abates the into sponges in Cape Coast districtn. heat.” “Boiled in wine and drunk is good in No use the small pox.” No use “Dried and rubbed on the body is good for the crocoes (or itch) [crawcraw, or onchocerciasis, is an itching skin disease].” “Boiled with water and drunk, is No use good for the belly-ache.” “Boiled and drunk, is good for any No use pain about the body.”

114


Table 1 (continued ) Uses documented 20th/21st cent. literaturea

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name


Historical use

272

Metacoe

TWI petekuku

“Pounded, and so applied, is good for No use a cut.”

–

Attrow

TWI adwera-akoa; “Boiled and swelled [body]part adwera washed in the water (ie decoction) abateth it.”

No use

D. Undetermined –

–

Afoba

–

–

–

–

Pocumma

–

–

–

Imfro

–

–

–

Purea

–

Species

Family

Malvaceae Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq Zaleya pentandra Aizoaceae (L.) C.Jeffrey

n

“Pound and mixed with oil, is good for the itch or the crocoes [crawcraw, or onchocerciasis, an itching skin disease].” “Pounded and dried and baked in bread is good for the flux[diarhoea/ dysentery].” “Good […] bring powdered […] small […]n “Boiled and the water drunk, causes a stool.”n

–

– –

Note on herbarium specimen, not published. Also observed in Ghana in 2014. Burkill (2000), the years in brackets refer to the date of the original publication qouting the use.

nn

a

served as reference material in semi-structured interviews. Respondents counted four professional Ghanaian (ethno-)botanists, three practicing traditional doctors, a professional Ga herbalist, and two Ga community members who are locally regarded as highly knowledgeable on medicinal plants. All were male, with exception of the professional herbalist, and between 35 and 72 years of age. The ten interviews were conducted by Jens Soelberg and George Akwetey (a native Ga speaker), in English or in a combination of English and Ga. The interviews were in two sections. First, respondents were asked to state any known names and medicinal uses for each plant in successive order. This was followed by a discussion of Thonning's historical medicinal uses, for each plant in order. Each respondent gave their expressed oral consent to the subsequent use of given information within the stated project framework. Additional information was given by Ga groups or individuals in less formal settings.

3. Results and discussion In total, the written works and herbarium specimens of John Smyth, Henry Tedlie and Peter Thonning recounted 153 historical medicinal uses of plants and 127 vernacular names. It was possible to identify 100 species and link these to 105 vernacular names and 134 historical ethnomedicinal uses among the Fante, Ga and Ashanti whose descendants live in present-day Ghana (Tables 1–3). 3.1. Identity of plants John Smyth registered 46 names and 46 uses of medicinal plants in the Cape Coast (Fante) area in 1695–97. The collections have been kept as an entity mounted in a book along with handwritten notes on their names and uses (Fig. 2), which makes them scientifically strong ethnobotanical vouchers. It has been possible to establish the identity of 42 species (91%). Of the two missing and two undeterminable specimens it was not possible to suggest their identity from their vernacular names or uses. Henry Tedlie registered 40 names of medicinal plants, however two names were registered for the same species, Paullinia pinnata (author names are provided in Tables 1–3), and one “plant” was a fungus. The original and published classifications (Bowdich, 1819) identified 15 species, as well as giving short descriptions and

valuable suggestions for the identity of the remaining specimens. The physical collections, however, have been dispersed in herbaria, and only four could be located. Three specimens have been published as types and their identities are certain: Musanga cecropioides R.Br. ex Tedlie; Paullinia africana ( ¼Paullinia pinnata R.Br. ex Tedlie) and Mussaenda fulgens (¼M. erythrophylla R.Br. ex Tedlie). For four species of plants, namely; Blighia sapida, Brillantaisia owariensis, Scoparia dulcis and Mikaniopsis tedliei, it was possible to locate an identified specimen or a drawing. For the remaining plants the specimens could not be located. However, in the publication (Bowdich, 1819) eight more plants were identified to species level by Robert Brown: Acalypha ciliata, Chrysanthellum americanum, Cola acuminata, Gloriosa superba, Heliotropium indicum, Leea guineense, Leucas martinicensis and Melia azederach. For the plant for which Tedlie noted the name adumba and Brown identified as Ficus sp., comparison with the vernacular names for Ficus species in Ghana suggests it is Ficus sur, which todays is called odoma in Twi and adowa or doma in Ashanti (Burkill, 2000). Six more can be indirectly identified from a combination of the short morphological descriptions and the vernacular names, namely Hilleria latifolia, Laportea aestuans, Spathodea campanulata, Trichilia monadelpha and Cnestis ferruginea. Despite the insufficient voucher material, it was possible to identify 21 species in medicinal use among the Ashanti during 1817. Of the 47 plants Peter Thonning made ethnomedicinal observations for, among the Ga in 1799–1803, nearly all have been located and identified to species or subspecies level and are included in Hepper's taxonomic review (1976). For the few which have been lost, Thonning's and Schumacher's excellent Latin diagnoses (Schumacher, 1827) allow for near-certain classification. In total, 110 plants which were historically used in Ghana could be identified to species or subspecies level. However, ten of these occur in more than one of the Ashanti, Fante and Ga historical materia medica, bringing the number down to exactly 100 species. Evidently, this high number of identifiable plants is due to the scientifically strong voucher material. 3.2. Recollection and distribution of plants With a few exceptions, it was in 2013/14 possible to (re-)collect all the 47 species of plants of the historical Ga materia medica in


115

Table 2 Historical (1817) and 20th/21st century medicinal plant names and uses among Ashanti. Species

Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name


A. Historical medicinal plant use same or similar in 20th/21st century literature 262 Bissey ASANTE-TWI bese Cola acuminata Malvaceae (P. Beauv.) Schott & Endl. (as Sterculia acuminata P. Beauv.) FANTE bawsi; besi ASANTE-TWI Hilleria latifolia Phytolaccaceae 223 Anafranakoo anafranaku (Lam.) H. Walter

Leea guineense G. Don

Vitaceae

Urticaceae Musanga cecropioides R.Br. ex Tedlie

266

Kattacaiben

297

Oeduema

ASANTE akataki, okatakyi

TWI akatakyiegaama ASANTE-TWIFANTE odwuma

Historical use

Uses documented in 20th/21st cent. literaturea

“The fruit is constantly chewed by the Ashantees, especially on a journey; it is said to prevent hunger and strengthen the stomach and bowels […]”

Chewed for stimulation, hunger pangs [1526, 1832, 1937, 1976]nn, as well as other uses .

“The bruised leaves are used to discuss boils and other inflammatory swellings”

Stem and plant for guinea-worm and in vapour for jaundice [1937, 1930], a type of swelling called ahoho (Twi), rheumatism [1930] and leprosy [1937, 1930]. Leaves externally as analgesic for muscular or joint pain as well as rheumatism [1990], as well as several other internal medicinal uses of leaves, root and seeds.

“The bark of the tree is rubbed on chronic swellings”

“The hairy sheath or stipule of a large palma leafed tree; it resembles skin, is boiled in soup, and used as a powerful emmenagogue” “The bark of this tree is used internally and externally, mixed with Mallaguettann pepper for pain in the side”

Sheath boiled whole and used as a powerful birth stimulant by Ashanti (from interview 2014).

Multiple internal and external uses in Ghana and West Africa and generally considered a panacea.

Paullinia pinnata L. (as Paullinia africana R.Br. ex Tedlie) Paullinia pinnata L. (as Paullinia africana R.Br. ex Tedlie) Spathodea campanulata P. Beauv.

Sapindaceae

219

Gingang

ASANTE akonkyerew, toantini

Sapindaceae

219

Adummah

ASANTE akonkyerew, toantini

Bignoniaceae

230

Ociseeree

ASANTE akuakuo ninsuo TWI osisiriw

“A decocotion of the bark of this tree, reduced to powder with Mallaguettann pepper, drank once a day, stops the discharge and cures dysentery” “The bark of this tree is used to stop the purging in dysentery and diarhoea”

Trichilia monadelpha (Thonn.) J.J. de Wild

Meliaceae

260

Tandoorue

ASANTE otannuru, tanuro, otendru, otenturo TWI otan-aduro

“The bark is pounded and boiled with Mallaguettann peper; used for pain in the belly, and acts as a purgative”

B. Historical medicinal plant use not traceable in 20th/21st century literature, but plant with other medicinal uses Acalypha ciliata Euphorbiaceae 221 Crowera ASANTE mfofoa “Is bruised with lesser cardamumn Forssk. seeds , and rubbed on the side of chest and side when pained” “A decoction of the bark is said to Blighia sapida Sapindaceae 251 Attueh ASANTE-TWI be anti-veneral. The fruit is eaten” K.D.Koenig achee; akye; takwadua “A decoction of the leaves is drank Acanthaceae – Suetinney ASANTE-FANTE – Brillantaisia for pain in the belly” TWI a-guare-(a) owariensis P. nsra; TWI nsu-twẽ Beauv. Connaraceae 263 Apussey TWI apose “The bark of this tree pounded Cnestis with Mallaguettan pepper is ferruginea Vahl ex DC. applied to the head in cases of headache” “The bark and fruit is pounded Ficus sur Forssk. Moraceae 267 Adumba ASANTE adowa; with Mallaguettan pepper and a doma; nwadua TWI odoma small plant called awhinteywhinting, boiled in fish soup; two doses in the third month of gestation are said to cause abortion” Gloriosa superba Colchicaceae L.

259

Koofoobah

FANTE brebia TWI asase foro

“is bruised with Mallaguettan pepper (lesser cardamum seeds)

Multiple medicinal uses in Ghana. Infusion for strokevictims [1990], sap for cough and whooping cough [1990].

Multiple uses in West Africa, many stomach/intestine-related [2001]. In Ghana also specifically for dysentery [1950]nn. Bark for wounds, cuts, sores; in a mixture to sooth cough, analgesic for lumbago; pulped bark or decoction for intestinal disorders [1990], aphrodisiac and abortifacient, root for dysentery [1983]

Mashed leaves used for dressing sores [1930]. Seeds to control nausea, as purgative and for yaws [1983]. Leaf-sap in ears draws the water from them after bath [1930] Multiple medicinal uses across West Africa, but none in Ghana related to headache. Many medicinal uses in West Africa, but none related to abortion.

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Table 2 (continued ) Species

Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name


Heliotropium indicum L.

Boraginaceae

203

Accocottocotorawah

ASANTE akomfemtikoro FANTE akokotubatuba

Leea guineense G. Don

Vitaceae

266

Kattacaiben

ASANTE akataki, okatakyi TWI akatakyie-gaama

–

Apooder

–

–

Aquey

–

286

Dammaram

ASANTE-TWI damaram

Thattha

ASANTE onyame ko metiri

Lamiaceae Leucas martinicensis (Jacq.) R.Br. Melia azedarach Meliaceae L. Mussaenda erythrophylla Schumach. & Thonn. (as Mussaenda fulgens R.Br. ex Tedlie) Scoparia dulcis L.

Rubiaceae

Plantaginaceae 247

C. Historical medicinal plants without medicinal uses in 20th/21st century literature – Cutturasuh – Chrysanthellum Compositae americanum (L.) Vatke (as Chrysanthellum procumbens Pers.) Urticaceae 264 Hooghong ASANTE hunhon Laportea TWI honhon aestuans (L.) Chew (as Urtica sp.) Compositae – Yangkompro For Senecio biafrae: Mikaniopsis FANTE yankonfeh tedliei (Oliv. & Hiern) C.D. Adams D. Undetermined –

Abromotome

–

Affeuah þ nuinnuerafuhþ comfany

–

Ammo

–

Aserumbdrue Awhinteywhinting

–

Conkknoney

–

Cudeyakoo

Historical use


and applied to the ancle or foot when strained”

Several external uses in West Africa, but none in Ghana related to strains.

“The juice expressed from this plant is snuffed up the nostrils in cases of severe headache. They also inhale the smoke of it into the nose” “A decoction of the leaves is drank every morning by pregnant women when they experience any uneasiness in the abdomen.”

Leaf-infusion for sores, stings, pimples, ulcers, eyes, insect bites and erysipelas [undated]. No specific headache use or smoking recorded. Several medicinal uses, but no records of pregnancy-related uses.

“A mixture of the bruised leaves with lime juice is applied to inflammations” “A decoction of the leaves of this tree is used with palm wine as a corroborant [invigorating]” No description, but included in list of medicinal plants

Various medicinal uses in West Africa, but in none Ghana related to inflammation. Various medicinal uses in West Africa, but none as “invigorating”. Root chewed by sick and invalids as appetizer and together with Aframomumn-seeds as cough remedy [1937, 1937, 1961, 1974]

“The expressed juice of this plant is Multiple uses in West Africa but none in Ghana related to eardropped into the ears when ache. pained” No use recorded in southern “A small plant, a decoction of which is a purgative, before boiling Ghana. Used for heart-troubles in northern territories (among the it should be bruised” Moore).

“is bruised, mixed with chalk and drank by pregnant women to correct acidity in the stomach, heartburn, etc” “The pounded leaves are applied to cuts and contusions”

Various medicinal uses in West Africa, but none recorded in Ghana, and none as antacid or in relation to pregnancy. No use

“The bruised leaves are used to discuss boils” “A mixture of the bruised leaves of these plants with Mallaguettan pepper, is rubbed on the body and limbs when swelled or pained: a decoction of them, with an addition of Comfany (Alternatherae sp.) is used internally in the same cases” “The juice is applied to cuts and bruises” “The leaves are used in soup to allay swellings of the belly” Used together with Ficus sp.as abortificient (see above). A dark-purple toadstool, the size of a hazel nut (Tedlie). “rubbed with Mallaguettan pepper and lime juice, it purges briskly. To stop the purging, a mess of boiled Guinea corn meal and lime juice should be eaten” “The leaves and stalk pounded are applied to eruptions on the head. A mixture of it with lime juice is

– –

– –

–

–


117

Table 2 (continued ) Species

Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name

–

Enminim

–

Petey

–

Secoco

–

Semeney

–

Soominna

–

Thuquamah

–

Tointinney

–

Wowwah

n


Historical use

applied to the yaws [Framboesia tropica, a bacterial skin infection]” “The juice expressed from the leaves is dropped into the eyes when affected by opthalmia or pain” “The leaves are pounded and applied as a plaister to inflammatory swellings and boils” “Is pounded with lime juice and rubbed on the body to cure the crawcraws; a severe and obstinate species of itch” “The leaves are pounded and applied as a plaister to favour the discharge of boils and collections of pus” “Is bruised with lime juice and used to abate cough” “The bark is pounded and drank in palm wine, with Mallaguettan pepper, for pain in the stomach” “Is chewed with Mallaguettan Toa-ntini means “to join the veins”, pepper as a cure for cough” and nowadays refers to Paullinea africana (see above) “The inner bark of this tree is scraped fine and mixed with Mallaguettan pepper, and drank for colic and other pains in the belly”


–

–

–

–

– –

–

–

Aframomum melegueta K. Schum. or Aframomum sp. Also observed in Ghana in 2014. Burkill (2000), the years in brackets refer to the date of the original publication qouting the use.

nn

a

the same area as Thonning did in 1799–1803. This was done in and around the city of Accra, the Ga Plains and Akuapem Escarpment. The wild Aloe spp. and their hybrids appear to have become very rare or locally extinct. Thonning noted them to be rare near the coast, but more frequent inland where the Accra plain meets the Akuapem Escarpment. Kedrostis foetidissima, which Thonning noted to occur “here and there”, likewise appears to be locally extinct. Solanum anomalum, which Thonning noted to occur “here and there, although not common” could also not be found. Ocimum americanum was not collected, but it is commonly cultivated for household use. The Ashanti and Fante plants were not sought in their respective areas, but it proved possible none-the-less to collect 86% of them in Greater Accra Region. Very nearly all the historical plants are naturally occurring in Ghana, but up to 60% are either semi-cultivated (planted near homes) or can be categorized as anthropogenic. Many are herbs or subshrubs which colonize disturbed areas around houses, roads, canals, clearings etc. Also, many of the larger species of shrubs, and small and large trees tend to be from either abandoned dry land, secondary forest species or semi-cultivation.

3.3. Vernacular names Of the 100 identifiable species the historical documents quote 105 vernacular names in the Twi (Fante/Ashanti) and Ga languages. At least 55 (52%) of these were observed to be in contemporary use among Fante, Ashanti and Ga today, or at least to be traceable in recent literature.

3.3.1. Ashanti and Fante vernacular names Ashanti and Fante belong to the Akan language(s), also referred to as Twi, and are variously considered distinct languages or dialects. The vernacular plant names collected among the Fante in 1695–97 and the Ashanti in 1817 are both definitely of Akan origin, and indeed many correspond very well to names in use for the same plants today (Tables 1 and 2). Out of the 42 Fante vernacular names of identifiable plants, at least 11 (26%) are traceable in literature (Burkill, 2000). Of the 21 Ashanti vernacular names of identifiable plants, at least 14 (67%) are traceable.

3.3.2. Ga vernacular names Of the 41 names of medicinal plants which Thonning noted, 30 (73%) were established by interview to be in contemporary use or at least to be familiar to contemporary Ga herbalists. Most of Thonning's vernacular names are distinctly Ga, but a few appear to be borrowed from Akan (Twi), such as osisiu (or osisiriw) for the tree Spathodea campanulata and eduásudoá (meaning tree-on-tree) for the parasite Tapinanthus bangwensis, although the Ga equivalent tsonotso was used by one respondent. In some cases the historical name itself is in current use, but now refers to a different plant. The name akokobessa which Thonning tied to the aromatic root of Carissa spinarum and the dish prepared from it, now refers to Ocimum basilicum. The name dendrae for Solanum americanum refers in modern Ghana to Solanum torvum (a medicinal plant, which is somewhat similar to Solanum americanum, and considerably more common). Bâissa for Senna occidentalis was not recognized by respondents, but in Burkill (2000) it is registered

118


for the related Senna alata and Senna obtusifolia with the Ga names bainsa/bayisa/baisa. It is not possible to determine if these inconsistencies are due to language dynamics or stem from mistakes or uncertainties of Thonning and his respondents. Two of Thonning's untraceable names were probably descriptive rather actual names: the Aloe spp. was called ahabloblae/asaboblae probably meaning “pineapple-like” and the name for the Byrsocarpus coccineus fruit simply means “sweet fruit”. In some cases, despite Thonning's names being recorded again in the 20th century literature, they were unfamiliar to the respondents (e.g. for Allophylus spicatus, Byrsocarpus coccineus and Triumfetta rhomboidea). For two plants, Jasminum dichotomum and Stachytarpheta indica, the historical names have not later been repeated in literature nor could any name for these species be established by interview. For the vine Kedrostis foetidissima it was interesting to note that though it appears to have become locally extinct, or at least very rare, a Ga herbalist recognized it from a photo and quoted the same name as Thonning: sia-kpang. She had learned of it from her herbalist grandmother, but not seen it for many years. 3.4. Medicinal plant uses 3.4.1. Fante medicinal plant uses Of the 46 uses registered by John Smyth in 1695–97, 42 can be assigned to identified plant species (Table 1). None of Smyth's observations mention which specific plant part was used. When comparing with the literature in the 20th century it appears that eight species (19%) has the same or similar use in Ghana today. Twenty species (48%) are still used medicinally, but do not correspond with the historically documented uses. Fourteen species (33%) has no recorded medicinal uses in Ghana in the 20th/21st century, and the historical uses thus appear to be forgotten or discontinued. Among those with same or similar uses, two are related to teeth: Cnestis ferruginea and Griffonia simplicifolia. The first was used for scurvy “in the mouth” and the second in decoction for tooth wash and toothache. Today the fruit of Cnestis ferruginea is well-known as an efficient teeth whitener, and Griffonia simplicifolia is a popular and marketed chew stick. Smyth observed that a decoction of Indigofera hirsuta causes “the great sort of pox” to skin and dry. The “great sort of pox” was at the time a term for syphilis, and it is interesting to note that it was registered 230 years later in Ghana as being used to treat yaws or Frambesia tropica (Irvine, 1930). Yaws and syphilis are both caused by infection by subspecies of the spirochaete bacteria Treponema pallidum. The common Melanthera scandens was used for eye problems, for which it was also noted in nearby Ivory Coast in 1974 (Bouquet and Debray, 1974). Mallolotus oppositifolius is mentioned as “good for the runnings”, and Petiver had added “(I suppose of the reins)” and the same for Flacourtia flavescens. The term “running in the reins” was at the time a term for white discharge from the genitals (as in gonorrhoea). Mallolotus oppositifolius and Flacourtia flavescens has later been noted for treatment of dysentery and diarrhoea (Dalziel, 1937; Irvine, 1961), but not gonorrhoea (Burkill, 2000). A pharmacological study in 2006 found Mallolotus oppositifolius efficient in treating dysentery and diarrhoea in rats (Kamgang et al., 2006). Smyth noted the use of two plant species for the treatment of Guinea worm, Stachytarpheta indica and Ritchia reflexa. The first has not been documented again in this context, but Ritchia reflexa was recorded specifically for Guinea-worm treatment in 1961 (Irvine, 1961). Of the 14 plants whose uses appear to have been forgotten or discontinued, a few have been used to treat specific ailments rather than for treatment of general symptoms such as pain and swellings. These outstanding plants were Enydra fluctuans and Salacia senegalensis which were drunk in decoctions to treat smallpox. Agalaea pentagyna which was boiled in wine and drunk as an adaptogen to recover strength and Triumfetta rhomboidea was noted to be used in

wound-related cases, which coincides with the use recorded among the Ga in 1799–1803 (see 3.4.3 and Table 3). 3.4.2. Ashanti medicinal plant uses Of the 37 uses recorded by Henry Tedlie in the Ashanti Kingdom in 1817, 22 could be assigned to 20 plant species (Table 2). Only two of the plants were registered with more than one use, Leea guineense and Paullinia pinnata. One plant was included in the materia medica list, but without recording of its use, namely Mussaenda erythrophylla. When comparing the historical uses to those of the same plant species registered in the 20st/21st century, it shows that seven of the specific uses (32%) are the same or similar. In twelve cases (55%) the plants have been documented with medicinal uses other than those of 1817. Three species (14%) has not had any medicinal use recorded in Ghana in the 20th/21st century and so their historical use appears to be forgotten or discontinued. Kola nut, in this case Cola acuminata, still has various medicinal uses, and it is widely used and marketed as a caffeinecontaining adaptogen. The leaf sheath of Musanga cecropioides was used as a powerful emmenagogue. A Ghanaian botanist of Ashanti origin confirmed that this use is still in practise 2014. A study of the oxytocic effect of M. cecropioides water extracts on rat uteruses supports its usefulness in this respect (Ayinde et al., 2006). Paullinia pinnata is quoted as used for pain in the side and to cure dysentery. There is however an uncertainty of these uses as Tedlie writes it is “the bark of the tree” which is used. Though Paullinia pinnata becomes woody with age, it is best described as a liana or climbing shrub. Its modern name, toa-ntini (meaning “to join the veins”), occurs further down Tedlie list and is quoted as used against cough. Paullinia pinnata is generally considered a panacea and is a widely known as a medicinal plant in Ghana. Spathodea campanulata is both in the Ashanti and in the historical Ga materia medica quoted as being used for dysentery. This use was also noted in 1950 (herbarium sheet in Kew, Farmar 470, 1906) and observed among Ga in 2014 by the main author. Leea guineense is quoted as having two uses. The bark of the tree was rubbed on chronic swellings which is relatable to the modern use of the leaves as an anagelsic for muscular or joint pain as well as rheumatism (Abbiw, 1990). But the use of the leaves in a drink for pregnant women who experience uneasiness in the abdomen does not have a counterpart in recent literature. Of the three forgotten or discontinued plant species two, Chrysanthellum americanum and Mikaniopsis tedliei, were not found in the field study area. The third, Laportea aestuans, on the other hand is common, and though it has been recorded for various medicinal uses in West Africa, none of those are in Ghana and none relates to the correction of acidity in the stomach or heartburn. 3.4.3. Ga medicinal plant uses Thonning registered 70 medicinal plant uses among the Ga in 1799–1803 which could be linked to 47 species (Table 3). Sixteen plant species were noted for one use, only 10 for two uses, five for three uses, and one (Senna occidentalis) for four distinct uses. When comparing the historical Ga medicinal plants uses to those quoted by the respondents in 2013/14, we found that 27 uses (39%) are existing in present day Ghana, meaning the same or a similar use of the plants is still practiced and are represented by 21 species. For 28 plant species we found that while the species are still medicinally used, 37 distinct historical uses (53%) could not be traced among present-day Ga. For six species with eight historical uses (11%) we did not record any medicinal uses of the plants in the present study. One genus is however represented in all categories, namely the wild Aloe spp. of the Ga plains and lower Akuapem escarpment. They are now very rare or locally extinct and medicinal use of them has for this reason been discontinued. However, Aloe vera which is commonly cultivated in households,


119

Table 3 Historical (1799–1803), 20th/21st century and contemporary medicinal plant names and uses among Ga. Plant species

Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name

A. Historical medicinal plant use same or similar in 2014 Zingiberaceae 224 – Aframomum melegueta K. Schum. (as Amomum granaparadisi L.)


Names given in 2014 interviews

Historical uses (#/total number of uses)


GA anairoyie; anaiwyei TWI wisa; famuwisa

GA wyei; anaiwyei TWI famwusa

“The seeds are used in different ways by the inhabitants, partly in economic, partly in medicinal respect.”

Seeds with multiple medicinal uses across West Africa and Ghana, either alone or (more commonly) in combination with other plants.

Blighia sapida K.D. Koenig (as Cupania edulis Schumach. & Thonn.)

Sapindaceae

251

Atia-tjo

GA otebia TWI akye

Artjin; atia

Byrsocarpus coccineus Schumach. (as Byrsocarpus puniceus Schumach. & Thonn.)

Connaraceae

248

Ploem-tjo, sjo-tami (for the fruit)

GA awendade TWI awennade

No known name

Clausena anisata (Willd.) Hook.f. Rutaceae ex Benth. (as Amyris anisata Willd.)

214

Abami-tio, abamiaulage-tio

GA samanobli; tontong tso TWI samanobere

Tontonsisi; samanobli; samanobere

Crinum ornatum (Ait.) Bury (as Amaryllis trigona Thonn.)

Amaryllidaceae

290

–

for C. zeylandicum: GA dwo emine brofo ngme

No consistent name

Dialium guineense Willd. (as Codarium nitidum Vahl)

Leguminosae

258

Joj-tjo

GA joi, jooitso Yooyi tso; yoiyi tso; yoii

Elaeis guineensis Jacq.

Arecaceae

254

Taehn-tio

GA ngme, teng

Taehn (tso)

Uses recorded during 2014 interviews

Seeds with multiple medicinal uses. Most often in combination with other plants as flavouring, as preservant and giving “heat” and “invigorating”. Alone chewed for cough. Bark internally Various uses in “The bark is for fever, and West Africa. In macerated with externally for lemon juice and is Ghana a bark is rubbed on body as swellings and used as poultice, rheumatism. stimulant (1937, or is merely However, not 1961). rubbed in on specifically for swollen testicles.” swollen testicles. Root with (1/2) “The bark is Root bark for sores from metals various wound scrabed of the and bone (1930) and leaf fresh root, or related uses, as failing that, off the decoction for well as for high mouth and skin dried one, is blood pressure. beaten into a soft sores (1961), as pulp and applied well as other uses. to old leg injury; also the wound is bathed with a decoction.” Various (1/3) “The leaves Multiple medicinal uses of medicinal uses, boiled in water including leaf leaves, including are commonly decoction for for various used for internal internal disorders. internal and sickness, in a stomach warm bath; in all Possible disorders, root preparations inflammatory illnesses the bath include medicinal preparations also for stomach is harmful.” (2/3) baths. disorders and as “An infusion of appetizing the root is drunk tonic. in various stomach disorders.” “The bulb acts as No epispastic uses Bulb decoction drunk for an epispasticum.” recorded for any epilepsy and Crinum species, asthma. and no uses recorded for C. ornatum Bark decoction Multiple “The mealy pulp of the fruit has a medicinal uses of drunk for diarrhoea and bark and leaves. pleasant acidity Fruit macerated in dysentery. Fruit and soaked in edible and used water for a water is a very to prepare drink refreshing drink. medicinal drink (although no for fever patients.” mention of this drink being medicinal) Many and An important A number of varied uses, economic plant Danish historic including many sources, including with many and medicinal. varied uses, Thonning, including many describes the medicinal. many economic uses of the palm

120


Table 3 (continued ) Plant species

Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name



249

Paettaeplaebi

GA akpetekplebi TWI peteprebi

Peteplebi; petebrebi

211

Jan-j'na

GA nyanyla TWI-FANTEASANTE nyanya

Nyan-nya

Ocimum americanum var. indet. Lamiaceae (as Ocimum lanceolatum Schumach. & Thonn.)

–

Blafâ-koae

GA kowe TWI Kowe; blofo-kowe akokobessa

Ocimum americanum var. indet. Lamiaceae (as Ocimum hispidulum Schumach. & Thonn.)

–

Koae

GA kowe TWI Kowe; blofo-kowe akokobessa

Lamiaceae Ocimum gratissimum L. (as Ocimum guineense Schumach. & Thonn.)

223

Sylu

GA sru, sulu, suru TWI onunum

Gardenia ternifolia Schumach. & Rubiaceae Thonn. (as Gardenia medicinalis Vahl ex Schumach. & Thonn.)

Momordica charantia L. (as Momordica anthelmintica Schumach. & Thonn.)

Cucurbitaceae

Sulu



oil, an its general use of the oil in various medicinal preparations. “According to Isert Multiple [Isert, 1788] the medicinal uses natives make use across West Africa of it in different illnesses.”


Considered medicinal and magical. Root or leaf decoction for arthritis, infertility and to ease delivery. Various (1/2) “The natives Across West medicinal uses. Africa with use it against Leaves or fruit various uses as worms in cold water or (Lumbricus) in the anthelmintic, decoction for laxative, for following way: stomach ache, and convulsions, 1 to 2 good to treat fever high blood handfuls of the (1937; 1974; and pressure, fresh plant are diabetes, other). Ghana: squeezed with leaves steeped in constipation, about 1/2 pot of purging, water, to which is water for malaria, to added the juice of diarrhoea and 4 lemons, a little dysentery, and as control nausea. stone weighing 6– febrifuge (1937, 1930, 1967). Also 8 half ounces is made red hot and uses as aphrodisiac and thrown therein. When the mixture for gonorrhoea (1930, 1967). No has become cold again, it is drunk, mention of magic. the result is either vomiting or bowel-action or both whereby the worms are expelled.” (2/2) “The same drink [leaves squeezed in wate with lemon, heated and cooled] is used for re-opening in costiveness [constipation].” Also magical uses. Multiple and Multiple uses in “[...] when a varied uses in Ghana and West native attributes Ghana, his illness to this Africa, including including baths baths and cause [illness and for “spiritual” related to the “spiritual” spirits of deceased diseases. diseases. Nb. relatives], this and The vernacular other strongly “blafâ” or scented plants are “blofo” means boiled in water, with which he “white”. washes [...] in order to expel the spirits.” Multiple and “[…] it is used by Multiple and varied uses in varied uses in the natives in Ghana, Ghana and West various illnesses, including baths mainly such as are Africa, including and for baths and for attributed to “spiritual” witchcraft or the “spiritual” diseases. diseases. deceased.” Multiple and Multiple uses in (3/3) “In sudden varied uses in Ghana and West frenzy or Ghana, swooning without Africa, including including “spiritual” preceding illness “spiritual” diseases. one drips the diseases. expressed sap into


121


Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name



Awbatuatsi; awbaguchi; awuhbaguwetese; wahboma eguwichi

Phyllanthus amarus Schumach. & Thonn.

Phyllanthaceae

237

Auamaadoati

GA (for P. fraternus) ombatoatshi

Physalis angulata L.

Solanaceae

235

Amotobi

GA tooto TWI too-too too-too

Premna quadrifolia Schumach. & Thonn.

Lamiaceae

283

Obossi-tjo

GA obosu, oboso

Senna occidentalis (L.) Link. (as Cassia planisiliqua L.)

Leguminosae

234

Bâissa

No GA name. For S. alata and S. obtusifolia is recorded bainsa/ bayisa/baisa, gbe kebiiamadaá and others.


the nose, eyes and mouth for expelling the sirsa (spirit or ghost) which is thought to have attacked the sick person.” Thonning also mentioned that he has succesfully healed old leg injuries and exuding washes. (1/2) “[…] the natives boil it with pytto [fermented millet or maize] and use it in this way for expelling fever and stomach pains.”

(2/3) “The leaves are also used against an itchy eruption […]; they are crushed and the body is rubbed with them.” Obosu tso “The leaves are pounded in tepid water and used as enema. A bottleshaped calabas is used for the purpose, whose tube is inserted, after which the doctor blows with his mouth through an opening in the bottom.” Gbe kebii-amadaá; (1/4) “Used by the mmofra brode natives in different ways, e. g. the bark of the root is scraped off, boiled with pytto (native beer) and is drunk in cases of dysentery.” (2/ 4) “[Root] bark is finely macerated along with a few grains-ofParadisen and with aid of lemonjuice is made into an ointment with which ringworm is coated over.” (3/ 4) “The leaves are used to induce the opening of bowels and to soothe the pains in the



P. fraternus is probably used in parallel with Phyllanthus amarus. Once officially used in Government hospital for griping in dysentery and painful spasms in intestines (1930, 1937). Also other and varied uses. Various medicinal uses, including leaves crushed to pulp and applied to skin irritation and swellings (1960).

Many and varied uses. Root, aerial parts or whole plant in alcohol or decoction for fever (malaria), diabetes, cough, boils, rashes, and more.

Leaf-decoction as laxative for babies, crushed leaves on skin irritation and swelling, root drunk as diuretic, and root bark taken for body pain (1961).

Multiple and varied uses across West Africa and Ghana, including for diarrhoea and dysentery (1937), and as purgative and febrifuge (1950). In some countries specifically for ringworm (1937).

Various medicinal uses, including leaves for skin diseases, boils and inflammatory sores. Apparently rarely used. Leaves in enema; “to induce walking in small children”; root in alcohol as aphrodisiac.

Flower and leaf in enema for fever in children. Decoction of various plant parts for high blood pressure, asthma, various stomach disorders, hernia, fever (malaria).

122



Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name



Spathodea campanulata P.Beauv. Bignoniaceae (as Bignonia tulipifera Thonn.)

230

Osisiu

GA not recorded. TWI (and others) osisiri, osisiriw

Osisuw

Compositae Vernonia colorata subsp. colorata (Willd.) Drake (as Chrysocoma amara Schumach. & Thonn.)

268

Teh-tjo

GA agoaflu, akpa, tà [tso¼ tree]

Ta tso

Waltheria indica L. (as Waltheria Malvaceae guineensis K. Schum.)

269

Fufuba

GA fufunoba TWI apem

Fufuba

Rutaceae Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides (Lam.) Zepern. & Timler (as Z. polygamum Schumach. & Thonn.; syn.: Z. senegalense DC; Fagara zanthoxyloides Lam.)

243

Hah-tio

No GA name recorded. TWI okuo

Hah tso



abdomen and are boiled for this purpose with pytto.” (4/4) “The bark of the root […] recommended as a good substitute for china-bark [Chinchona sp., used as febrifuge].” “The bark is used by the natives in dysentery.”

Multiple uses in West Africa. In Ghana specifically recorded use of bark for dysentery (without date, note on herbarium specimen). (1/3) “For old leg Multiple and varied uses across bone injury a West Africa. In decoction of the leaves is used for Ghana as chew sticks and leafbathing; the soft decoction for beaten and moistened bark of cough (1956) and the root is applied stomach ache (no date). to the wound itself.”

“When the leaves are dried and used as tea they resemble in taste the flowers of Verbascum and have the same action [probably soothing pulmonaries and cough].”

Widely used in West Africa as febrifugal, purgative, emollient tonic, analgesic and astringent. A spoonful pulverized plant morning and evening against fever (1937, 1960). (1/2) “The bark of Multiple and the root is used by varied uses across the natives to West Africa and expel gout-pains; Ghana, including along with grains- uses as analgesic of-Paradisen, it is and for finely grated and rheumatism (1937, 1962). rubbed on the painful place.” (2/ 2) “In toothache the finely ground root bark is rubbed in externally on the cheek and a decoction is now and then held to the teeth [held in the mouth].”


Bark used for various medicinal purposes, including for dysentery, stomach pains, infertility and many other. Together with V. amygdalina, considered a medicinal plant with multiple uses. Decoction of root or leaves, or dry in capsules, to cause appetite and for fever (malaria). Leaves on wounds, rubbed on rashes and ring worm infections. Aerial part or leaves in decoction or root chewed for impotence, fever, toothache, cough and general illness.

Multiple and varied uses mainly of root or root bark, either chewed, in alcohol or decoction, for constipation, anaemia, fever, shaking, childbirth, swollen legs, arthritis, aphrodisiac, waist pains. Also sap in nose for headache and root in enema for stomach disorders.


123


Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name



B. Historical medicinal plant uses not the same in 2014, but plant with other medicinal uses Aloe buettneri A. Berger; Aloe Xanthorrhoeaceae Ahabloblae/ GA - ASANTE No known name schweinfurthii Baker (and asaboblae sereberebe possibly hybrids). (as Aloe picta Thunb.)



(1/2) “The natives use the crushed leaves for old leg bone injuries, which they likewise wash with a decoction.” (2/2) “In dropsy the same concoction [of Aloe-leaves] is used as a cathartic purge.”

Leaf-sap applied to white blotches on skin, known as osabén (1930), but no record of use as purgative or in relation to dropsy.

Annona senegalensis Pers. (as Annona arenaria Thonn.)

Annonaceae

253

Naivié

No GA name recorded; GBE (Ghana) anyikle; GBE (Togo) anigli

Naivé; nyawie

“A decoction of the dried leaves is used for old legbone injuries.”

Boerhavia diffusa L. (as Boerhavia adscendens Willd.)

Nyctaginaceae

281

Tjalala

GA tsalai

Tsalai

Borassus aethiopum Mart. (as Borassus flabelliformis Murr.)

Arecaceae

255

Vjye-tio

GA ago, agogo, wiedso TWI makube

Wietso; weweti

“The natives boil the root bark in a soup, which they drink for dysentery; moreover it is one of the commonest fetish plants, which are used by the natives for their cleansing bath in sickness and other cases.” “The gelatinous pips of the unripe fruit are greedily eaten and regarded […] as an aphrodisiac.”

Connaraceae Byrsocarpus coccineus Schumach. (as Byrsocarpus puniceus Schumach. & Thonn.; Rourea coccinea (Schumach. & Thonn.) Benth.)

248

Ploem-tjo, sjo-tami (for the fruit)

GA awendade TWI awennade

No known name

Carissa spinarum L. (as Carissa dulcis Schumach. & Thonn.)

250

Akokobessa (root), aflaumbe (fruit)

GA akokobesa TWI akokobesa

GA aflaumbe

Apocynaceae

(2/2) Thonning describes an event in which the leaves were chewed with Aframomumnseeds by a native man and applied to a poisonous snake-bite (which he survived). “The bark of the root is finely broken up and used as a spice for a dish which bears the name Akokobessa. The


A. buettneri or A. schweinfurthii are very rare in Ghana now, and possibly locally extinct in the Ga area. No respondent knew of uses or names of wild Aloe. The topical uses appear to have been substituted by cultivated Aloe vera, but not the use as purgative or in relation to dropsy. Leaves for fever, Multiple uses in root bark for West Africa general body (1985), but none pains, infertility, recorded in “giving blood”. Ghana. None related to wound healing. Especially root Herb-decoction for asthma (1969), externally on boils. Also roots as poultice various infant on abscesses, diseases. None ulcers, guineaworm (1937, 1960, related to dysentery or 1969), to cure yaws on feet (no intestinal date) and restore disorders, but considered a virility (1969). panacea.

The wine made from the sap is considered aphrodisiac (1988).

Multiple medicinal uses, but none for snake-bite.

Root as spice, chewed as tonic and restorative of virility; Fruits added to food of a sick person as an

Medicinal uses include seeds and roots in various preparations for fever (malaria), and alcohol extract of root for men as aphrodisiac. Fruits are not considered having aphrodisiac properties. Various medicinal uses, but none for snake-bite.

Root as spice and various medicinal uses, including aphrodisiac. Fruits eaten, however not

124



Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name





berries have an appetizer very agreeable (1952;1961) taste almost like sweet cherries and afford an excellent broth for sickness.”

Vitaceae

256

–

GA kotokoli

No known name

Clausena anisata (Willd.) Hook.f. Rutaceae ex Benth. (as Amyris anisata Willd.)

214

Abami-tio, abamiaulage-tio

GA samanobli; tontong tso TWI samanobere

Sesadua (most common); tontonsisi; samanobli; samanobere

Cissus quadrangularis L. (as Cissus bifida Schumach. & Thonn. )

Erythrina senegalensis DC. (as Erythrina latifolia Schumach. & Thonn.)

Leguminosae

231

Naba-tioelu

GA hiibaatso

No consistent name

Euphorbia drupifera Thonn. (as Elaeophorbia drupifera (Thonn.) Stapf)

Euphorbiaceae

241

Tenjo-tjo

GA tunyo

Tunyo

Flacourtia flavescens Willd. (Flacourtia edulis Schumach. & Thonn.)

Salicaceae

249

Amagomi

GA amugui TWI piti piti

No known name


specifically in soup for sick or as appetizer. Note: the TWIname “akokobessa” is (now) the common name for basil (Ocimum basilicum). Various (1/2) “The leaves Pounded leaves medicinal and and stem across crushed and spiritual uses. mixed with lemon West Africa for juiceare applied to burns, wound and No uses related skin trouble (1974, to guinea-worm swellings caused infection or by Guinea worms, 1937). No record of uses related to dropsy. Filaria medinensis.” (2/2) dropsy. “[The leaves crushed and mixed with lemon juice] is also used for treating the illness the inhabitants call Anasarea (a kind of dropsy), when it is mixed with crushed grains-ofParadisen and rubbed into the whole body.” (3/3) “For facial Various Multiple swellings (Aboa in medicinal uses, medicinal uses the Akkra [Ga] including leaf but none related language) the root to facial swelling. decoction for is finely internal and macerated with stomach lemon juice and disorders, root Grains-ofpreparations Paradisen, and also for stomach disorders and as smeared over the appetizing face.” tonic, but none related to facial swelling. Considered Especially bark “A decoction of medicinal and with multiple the bark is used uses across West with various by the natives Africa. Dysentery uses, including against [1/3] and abortifacient- decoctions of dysentery, [2/3] leaves for colic and [2/3] for related uses in constipation easing deliveries.” Senegal, but not Ghana. No uses in and bark for cough. Ghana related to colic. Leaves in “Natives from the No record of wound treatment. preparations for interior of the stomach Fish poison. country use a disorder. decoction of it for Considered washing poisonous. exulcerationes gingivae [blistered or sore gums].” Also as fish poison. Dry powdered (1/2) “The young Stem chewed to root snuffed for cure diarrhoeic leaves are put in pytto [fermented conditions (1961); headache; no record of uses boiled and millet or maize] drunk for fever. which is set in the related to No uses related sun to become


125


Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name



Ipomoea mauritiana Jacq. (as Convolvulus paniculatus L.)

Convolvulaceae

217

Loeloa-pang

GA loloa TWI Loloa; lolowa amanin, dinsinkoro

Lantana camara L. (as Lantana antidotalis Schumach. & Thonn.)

Verbenaceae

300

Nanni-kumi

GA anaanu komi

Launaea taraxacifolia (Willd.) Amin ex C.Jeffrey (as Lactuca taraxacifolia Schumach. & Thonn.)

Compositae

212

Abloge

GA agbloge Ablogé TWI nne-noa

Leonotis nepetifolia var. africana Lamiaceae (P.Beauv.) J.K.Morton (as Phlomis pallida Schumach. & Thonn.)

278

No GA name recorded.

Anano komi tso

No known name




sour, and is drunk thus in case of gonorrhea for expelling urine.” (2/2) “In wasting cough a portion of the leaves is taken and some malagen in the mouth and is chewed; the juice is swallowed with cold water.” (1/2) “For dropsy both under the skin and in the abdomen the natives boil the root with some grains-of-Paradise (guinea pepper)n; for drinking and for external application the root is ground fine with some grainsof-Paradisen and a little water and rubbed over the whole body.” (2/2) “For gonorrhea virulenta the root is finely broken up and placed in pytto [fermented millet or maize] or palm wine which is put aside to become sour and is then used for promoting the urine.” In case of snakebite: leaves in bath and root finely macerated with Aframomumn and lemon to be rubbed on whole body. Possibly also root for other medicines. (1/2) “[…] the natives use the expressed sap for alleviation of pain in fresh wounds.” (2/2) “The decoction or the leaves prepared as cabbage are used in dysentery (blood flux).”

gonorrhoea or cough.

to gonorrhoea or cough.

Root as purgative (1950). No uses related to gonorrhoea or dropsy.

Root decoction for infertility and general body pain, externally on swollen feet. No uses related to gonorrhoea or dropsy.

No snake-bite uses recorded in Ghana or West Africa.

Leaf decoction drunk for low blood pressure, fever (malaria) and externally for haemorrhoids. No uses related to snake bite.

As vegetable against weakness, high blood pressure and for well being. Chewed raw for diabetes. Leaf decoction for high cholesterol, to “purify blood” and for malaria. No uses as analgesic or related to dysentery. Several medicinal Leaf decoction “A decoction of the dried plant is uses in Ghana, but drunk for swollen foot; used as a drink in none against sap in nose for cases of persistent cough. headache; coughing.” decoction drunk Leaves mixed with ash rubbed in the sores of yaws; also other external uses (note on herbarium specimen, no date). Well known wild vegetable.

126



Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name





Leguminosae Philenoptera cyanescens cyanescens (Schum. & Thonn.) Benth. (as Robinia cyanescens Schum. & Thonn.)

204

Akassi

ASANTEFANTE-TWIGA akase

Akase

“The leaves are crushed and applied to old leginjuries for cleansing the wound”

Leaves as a poultice for ulcers and dressing for skin-diseases (1937); root paste for same considered more effective (1983)

Leguminosae Millettia thonningii (Schumacher) Baker (as Robinia thonningii Schumach. & Thonn.)

294

Tah-tjo

GA taatso, tatso

Taa tso

No uses recorded in Ghana.

Lamiaceae Ocimum gratissimum L. (as Ocimum guineense Schumach. & Thonn.)

223

Sylu

GA sru, sulu, suru TWI onunum

Sulu

Phyllanthus amarus Schumach. & Thonn.

Phyllanthaceae

237

Auamaadoati

GA (for Ph. Fraternus) ombatoatshi

Awbatuatsi; awbaguchi; awuhbaguwetese; wahboma eguwichi

Physalis angulata L.

Solanaceae

235

Amotobi

GA tooto TWI Too-too too-too

“The bark beaten soft is used for applying to old leg-injuries for cleansing the wound.” (1/3) “[...] in malignant bilious fever connected with jaundice, which is very prevalent near River Volta after flooding of the river [probably yellow fever]. One uses generally, the tepid decoction both for drinking and bathing 4 times a day.” (2/ 3) “It is used the same way [decoction for drinking and bathing] in common jaundice (Ati-Odoi).” (2/2) “For dropsy both in the abdomen and beneath the skin I have seen it used with much efficacy; the plant is crushed along with a few grainsof-Paradisen and rubbed in over the whole body; a decoction of the plant is used internally.” (1/3) “Adampi girls, who without having observed the religious ceremonies, have become pregnant, try to expel the foetus with a decoction of this

Multiple uses in Ghana and West Africa, but no mention of bilious fever, jaundice, or yellow fever.


and ash rubbed in small skin cuts for body pain (the feeling of “being pierced”). Root decoction or powder in pregnancyrelated issues and problems with impregnation and as aphrodisiac. No uses related to wounds , but young leaves are well known to stain hands blue when rubbed. Apparently rarely used; leaves crushed in water, sieved and drunk for high fever. Multiple and varied uses, but no mention of bilious fever or jaundice.

Ph. fraternus is probably used in parallel with Phyllanthus amarus. Multiple and varied uses, however no record of dropsyrelated uses.

Many and varied uses. No mention of dropsy-related uses.

Various medicinal uses, but none related to abortion or mumps.

Various internal and external uses of mainly leaves or fruits including as lactogen, for skin disease, boils, inflammatory


127


Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name

Solanum americanum Mill. (as Solanum nodiflorum Jacq.; syn: Solanum nigrum L.)

Solanaceae

301

Dendrae

Solanum anomalum Thonn.

Solanaceae

–

Asogagaplae, sissa-sussoa

Anacardiaceae Spondias mombin L. (as SpondiasaurantiacaSchumach. & Thonn.)

213

Adodomi

Stachytarpheta indica (L.) Vahl

233

Lalâba

Verbenaceae




plant, which they partly drink, partly wash the reproductive parts with it, partly use as enema.” (3/3) “The leaves are also used against an […] mumps; they are crushed and the body is rubbed with them.” “The leaves are used against rheumatic pains; they are pounded with some grainsof-Paradisen into an ointment or salve, which is rubbed on the painful places.”



sores, stomach ache, appetite loss in pregnant women, malaria, but none for abortifacient or for mumps.

Leaf and fruit prepared in enema for abdominal pain and constipation; fruit or leaves grinded with white clay and smeared on hard breast. Note: Thonning's name dendrae is in common use for Solanum torvum which is not a herb but a shrub or small tree. No use (but Some medicinal “The natives use No GA name Dendrae (which sometimes uses in West recorded TWI now is commonly the juice of the confused with Africa, but none used for S. torvum) berries to smear nsusuaa dendrae (S. related to on sores of the torvum) a wounds. ear.” different but somewhat similar species used mainly for various “bloodrelated” diseases). Various Multiple uses in “The leaves are GA ádodong ataaba; atoa; medicinal uses adong boiled in water for West Africa and TWI ataba; of seeds, leaves Ghana, but none a vapour bath atoa related to dropsy. and sap, against dropsy.” including dizziness, nausea, hayfever, stomachache and eye problems, but not dropsy. Various Sap is instilled No GA name no “The natives use medicinal uses into the eyes for recorded this plant for including inflammations of cataract (1969). treatment after the eyes and spots Inflorescence as ecbolic [to hasten stroke, stomach on the cornea in sores, head ache labour] and as the following and more, but poultice to way: the leaves none related to maturate boils are crushed and in a medicine eyes. between hot for gonorrhoea stones, and then (1969). placed in a linen cloth from which the sap is squeezed into the eye.” No GA name recorded. TWI nsusuaa

Asokakapaelo; nsusuaa (twi)

Some medicinal uses in West Africa, but none related to rheumatism.

128


Table 3 (continued ) Acc. no. JS#

Historical name






Tapinanthus bangwensis (Engl. & Loranthaceae K.Krause) Danser (as Loranthus thonningii Schumach. & Thonn.)

210

Eduásudoá

No GA name GA tsonotso TWI recorded dyasodya ASANTE krampan TWI nyasempa

“At times it is used in various illnesses to consecrate water, with which the sick person may be washed.”

Leaf for guineaworm (1961), and other uses often depending on the host plant. Various medicomagical uses.

Thonningia sanguinea Vahl

Balanophoraceae

296

No Ga name recorded TWI ananseabedwa, kvabe dwea

“Decoction of this plant is used for washing out veneral sores, especially veneral eruptions.” Also: “Used for veneral disease” (Isert, 1788)

Various uses in West Africa. Ghana: Rhizome and flowers for skin diseases (1937, 1930, 1952). Flower heads tied to children's ankles to teach walking faster (1937, 1930).

Uvaria ovata (Vahl ex Dunal) A. DC. (as Uvaria cordata (Dunal) Alston)

Annonaceae

206

Agingeli

GA aanyele, anyenye

anyeli

“Both the root, wood and bark are used in a decoction for the cure of old legbone injuries.”

No medicinal uses in Ghana or West Africa.

Compositae Vernonia colorata subsp. colorata (Willd.) Drake(as Chrysocoma amara Schumach. & Thonn.)

268

Teh-tjo

GA agoaflu, akpa, tà

ta tso

(2/3)“When the blood flux [dysentery] is not to serious a decoction of the leaves with a little grains-ofParadisen is used for drinking.” (3/ 3)“In rheumatic pains the leaves expressed in cold water for a bath is used, and thereafter the limb is smeared with the finely grated root; but some fetish [magic] is connected with the latter operation.”

Multiple and varied uses across West Africa. In Ghana as chew sticks and leafdecoction for cough (1956) and stomach ache (no date, from herbarium specimen).

Chopped stem or leaves in decoction for “brain problems”, dizziness, asthma, treatment after stroke, malaria, convulsions and high blood pressure. Flower or root (stem) in decoction for asthma, as anthelmintic or purgative. Sometimes simultaneously as decoction and as a prickly appendices on small children's legs, to induce small children to walk. No uses for sores, venereal sores or diseases. Root in decoction for various medicinal purposes, fruit eaten for cough and leaves chewed for snakebite. Together with V. amygdalina, considered a medicinal plant with multiple uses. Decoction of root or leaves, or dry in capsules, to cause appetite and for fever (malaria). Leaves on wounds, rubbed on rashes and ring worm infections.

GA tetedua TWI tetudua

No known name

(1/2) “The bark of the root is sometimes used for application to old leg injuries”. (2/2) “Leaves in cold water used to wash sick person

No uses. Root bark in hot infusion a remedy for diarrhoea (1937, 1961).

Plant species

Family

C. Historical medicinal plants without medicinal uses in 2014 206 Tadadua Allophylus spicatus (Poir.) Radlk. Sapindaceae (as Ornitrophe magica Schum. & Thonn.; syn.: Ornitrophe spicata Poir.; Schmidelia magica (Schum. & Thonn.) Baker)


129


Family

Acc. no. JS#

Historical name






No uses recorded for Ghana.

No uses.

and the water ceremonially discarded.” Indigofera pulchra Willd.

Leguminosae

270

–

Jasminum dichotomum Vahl

Oleaceae

273

Jangkumaetri No GA name No known name recorded. ADANGME sisa aflangme (“ghost Carissa edulis”)

Cucurbitaceae Kedrostis foetidissima (Jacq.) Cogn. (as Bryonia foetidissima (Jacq.) Schumach.)

–

Sia-pang

No GA name recorded

sia-kpang

Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq. (as Triumfetta mollis Schumach.)

272

Toubé

GA tugbe TWI petekuku

No known name

n

a

Malvaceae

No GA name recorded

No known name

“The leaves are dried, ground to a fine powder and strewn on old leg injuries, which thereafter are bathed with a decoction of the same.” “The natives crush the leaves and apply them in that condition to old leg injury, after the wound has been cleansed by other means.” “[The whole plant] is boiled in water for bathing against tenesmus [bowel or bladder straining].”

Decoction of fresh leaves serves as a lotion for ulcers that are not severe or longstanding (1990, 1937, 1961, 1965). No use recorded, but specimen in University of Ghana herbarium collected in Nungua (Accra) mentions “medicinal use”. “The root is used No uses recorded for the sores from for Ghana. Guinea-worm.”

No uses.

No uses. Likely locally extinct or very rare.

No uses.

Aframomum melegueta K. Schum seeds. Burkill (2000), the year in brackets refers to the publication of original reference qouting the use.

appears to have substituted the wound-related uses of the wild Aloe, but not that as purgative. Of the plants for which the same medicinal use can be traced from 1799–1803 till today, at least nine are among the best established and important medicinal plants in Ghana, as indicated by their inclusion in the “Ghana Herbal Pharmacopoeia” (Ayiku, 1992): Aframomum melegueta, Clausena anisata, Momordica charantia, Ocimum gratissimum, Phyllanthus fraternus (used similarly as Phyllanthus amarus), Senna occidentalis, Solanum torvum (possibly used similarly as Solanum americanum), Vernonia amygdalina (used similarly as V. colorata) and Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides). Also considered for inclusion were Blighia sapida, Byrsocarpus coccineus, Gardenia ternifolia and Spathodea campanulata. Twenty-seven per cent of the plants which Thonning noted with medicinal uses are mentioned in the herbal pharmacopoeia. Some of the plants which are still medicinally used are presently treating different ailments than those they were historically recorded for. The most common uses among these are as treatments for wound, dropsy and dysentery. The rest of the “forgotten” uses are more distinct. Two plants were used for gonorrhoea: Flacourtia flavescens leaves and Ipomoea mauritiana root (tuber) which were put in fermented millet beer and drunk to expel urine. A decoction of Ocimum gratissimum were used both against jaundice and what is most likely to be yellow fever (both of which symptomized by yellow skin pigmentation due to liver damage). Finely macerated root of Clausena anisata was rubbed on “facial swellings called Aboa”, in the Ga language. This facial swelling could be the nephrosis associated with malaria infection. The historical use of sap from Stachytarpheta angustifolia leaves for eye inflammation and other eye-related troubles was also noted by Dokosi (1998) in Ghana and other West

African countries (Burkill, 2000). Last mentioned plant still has various medicinal uses, but nothing eye-related could be traced among the respondent in this study. The brightly red flowers of the parasite Thonningia sanguinea was used against venereal sores as also quoted by Neuwinger (2000), but with reference to Thonning. This use appears to have been forgotten or discontinued. For all the species for which no medicinal use could be traced, their vernacular names also appear to be forgotten, with one exception (Kedrostis foetidissima). The use of Kedrostis foetidissima for tenesmus (bowel-straining), and the uses of wild Aloe are both likely to have been discontinued due to the rareness or local extinction of these plants. Although Jasminum dichotomum was recorded for wound-related uses as late as 1990, and Allophylus spicatus for diarrhoea in 1937 and 1961 (Dalziel, 1937; Irvine, 1961), neither these nor the historical uses could be traced in 2013/14. The use of Indigofera pulchra as dry powder and a decoction for old leg injury (chronic sores), is likely to have been forgotten. Triumfetta rhomboidea, which also occurs in the historical Fante materia medica for wound healing, was used among Ga for the sores of Guinea-worm. Neither use has later been recorded in Ghana. 3.5. Comparison of medicinal practice and diseases The medicinal practice conveyed in Smyth's, Tedlie's and Thonning's observations, in this order, are of increasing complexity. James Petiver noted in his letter on John Smyth's plants that “the whole innocent practice consists of no more art than composition”, which probably refers to the dosage and preparation of the medicinal plants, as none of the medicinal preparations consists of more than one plant.

130


Smyth furthermore only noted one use per plant. With the exception of adding Aframomum melegueta seeds and lime juice, Thonning and Smyth only noted very few combinations of plants in medicinal preparations. For specialized traditional doctors, especially those for whom spiritualism is central to their practice, as well as for some herbalists, it is common to combine several plants in more or less secret preparations. However, in normal households medicinal plant preparations are more likely to consist of just one plant and perhaps an excipient (or adjuvant). In Ghana today, it is in general very common to use various excipients such as Aframomum seeds, Xylopia aethiopica, Piper nigrum, Piper guineense fruits, limes and lemons together with the main medicinal plant. Most respondents said this is done to make the medicine more palatable, while other said it increased the efficacy of the medicine, increased the susceptibility of the body to the medicine or preserved the activity of the medicinal preparation over time. The use of excipients features prominently in Thonning and Tedlie's observations. In fact, 13 (35%) of the historical Ashanti preparations, and 12 (26%) of the Ga preparations includes Aframomum seeds. One of the great challenges of a historical ethnopharmacological approach is the interpretation of the historical diseases and maladies, especially when these were made in an unknown mixture of local disease perception and by observers with varying degrees of medical training, 2–300 years ago. We can group most of the historical used plants in the following categories: wound or sore-related, oedema or dropsy-related, parasite-related, dysentery and diarrhoea-related, as antipyretics, as purgatives, as analgesics, for symptoms of venereal diseases, for pulmonary diseases, as stimulants or adaptogens, as well as many other smaller categories. Thonning used the term “for old leg injury” in 11 plant uses. The Danish word ben, or the archaic been, can be translated into either “leg” or “bone”. However, careful reading indicates that at least some cases involve an open wound rather than a bone fracture. Both Thonning and other contemporary sources reported that Guinea-worm infection, especially on legs, was very prevalent at the time. It is very likely that Thonning's “old leg injury” refers to the chronic sores and the ulcerated wounds caused by Guinea worm infections. 3.6. Scale of change in medicinal plant uses Some plant species have the same medicinal application now as 2–300 years ago. In total, 41 of the 134 historical uses (31%), representing 36 species, can be traced among current plant uses in Ghana. The remaining uses appear to be discontinued. Though it cannot be verified that the specific use of certain plants have completely and unequivocally “disappeared”, especially not within large populations and large geographical areas, this study could not trace 93 historical plant uses (69%) in the 20th/21st century literature or by the interviews conducted in 2013/14. Twenty-five plant species appear to be medicinally “forgotten”. The continuity of a specific medicinal plant use over a period of several hundreds of years is a strong indication of its perceived quality among the users, and thus the efficacy of its pharmacological activities. Indeed, many of the plants with present uses are among the best-known and most important Ghanaian medicinal plants. Twelve features in the book “Ghana Herbal Pharmacopoeia” (Ayiku, 1992): which lists a selection of 50 important plants in medicinal use in Ghana. Most of these have been subjected to various pharmacological studies. The reverse logic cannot be applied to the “forgotten” plants and plant uses. Although it is possible that a discontinued medicinal plant use could be due to de-selection by the users, it could also be the result of a number of internal and external influences. Some of the influences could include local, regional or national cultural

changes such as migration, urbanization, ethnic diversification, the role of traditional medicine in society or unsuccessful knowledge transfers. It could be due to a permanent or temporary unavailability of the plant e.g. due to over-exploitation or destruction of natural habitat. It could also indicate that the disease or malady, for which the plant was used have become rare, or the plant has been substituted by better or more available medicines. Thus, the contemporary absence of a historical plant use is not a definitive indicative of its lack of medicinal potential. Due to the absence of a current traditional use, many of the plants in the B. and C. sections in Tables 1–3, have not been subjected to pharmacological studies to any large degree. 3.7. Historical plants in a modern context The claim of indigenous intellectual property to a plant use often requires empirical and documented knowledge of the history of plant uses. Oral traditions often cannot verify the historical extent of a plant use, and in the cases where ethnobotanical documentation does exist, it is often not publicly available or even known. Recent cases have highlighted the importance of historical ethnobotanical documentation in Intellectual Property Right claims. This study traces the earliest recorded sources of 134 specific plant uses of 100 plant species among the Ashanti, Fante and Ga people in presentday Ghana. The preservation of traditional medicine is threatened by loss of the physical medicinal material (biodiversity) and the loss of knowledge of the use of the plants. In the case of the Ga historical materia medica, our study shows that both local extinction of plant species and cultural knowledge loss has affected the Ga medicine system. However, while “only” two plants species have become rare or extinct, more than two thirds of the historical medicinal uses can no longer be traced in contemporary Ga medicinal plant knowledge. Cultural knowledge loss is identified as the greater threat of the two reasons mentioned above. The importance of documenting the use of traditional medicine before the knowledge disappears has often been emphasized and motivated many modern ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological studies. This paper have investigated three ethnobotanical studies made 2–300 years ago and this study indicates that more than two thirds of the historical medicinal plant uses has disappeared over this time. This raises the question, what is in fact the applicable value of ethnopharmacological documentation, once the living tradition is gone? What role could the works of John Smyth, Peter Thonning and Henry Tedlie play in a modern context? One outcome could be the reintroduction of the otherwise lost plant uses into modern phytotherapy, but before that could happen, pharmacological characterization of the plants is required.

4. Conclusion Scientifically strong voucher material allowed for identification of a very high number of historical medicinal plants and their origins in traditional Ghanaian medicine systems 2–300 years ago. Comparison with contemporary plant uses in Ghana shows that the materia medica of the Fante, Ga and Ashanti of Ghana has changed considerably over time. Forty-one of 134 specific historical uses appear to be extant in Ghana, and more than two thirds of the historical uses (93) cannot be traced. Among the Ga, two medicinal plant species have become rare or extinct, but the vast majority of the loss of knowledge appears to be due to cultural change. The “forgotten” historical uses, saved only by efforts of ethnobotanical documentation, should warrant further studies to determine if the uses have been discontinued despite medicinal


potential of the plants. Proven pharmacological potential in forgotten medicinal plants would give creed to the concept of ethnopharmacological studies as a preserver of valuable information and facilitate reconstruction of historical medicinal plant uses in evidence-based modern contexts. Acknowledgements The project is funded by the Cand. Pharm. Povl M. Assens Foundation and the Carlsberg Foundation. Thanks are given to Mr. J.Y. Amponsah at Ghana Herbarium in Department of Botany, University of Ghana, for his assistance in herbarium and field. References Abbiw, D., 1990. Useful plants of Ghana. Intermediate Technology Publications and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Ascherson, P., 1879. Botanisch-ethnographische Notizen aus Guinea. Aus den Aufzeichnungen von Thonning in Schumacher's Beskrivelse af Guineiske Planter. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 11, 231–255. Ghana Herbal Pharmacopoeia. In: Ayiku, M.N.B. (Ed.), 1992. Technology Transfer Center, Ghana. Ayinde, B.A., Onwukaeme, D.N., Nworgu, Z.A.M., 2006. Oxytocic effects of the water extract of Musanga cecropioides R. Brown (Moraceae) stem bark. African Journal of Biotechnology 5 (14), 1350–1354. Bosman, W., 1703. A new and accurate description of the coast of Guinea, London. Bouquet, A., Debray, M., 1974. Plantes médicinales the Côte d'Ivoire. Trav. Doc. O.R.S. T.O.M. 13. Bowdich, T.E., 1819. Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantie, with a statistical account of that kingdom, and geographical notices of other parts of the interior of Africa. J. Murray, London.

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Burkill, H.M., 2000. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa, third ed. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Dalziel, J.M., 1937. The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Crown Agents, London. Dokosi, O.B., 1998. Herbs of Ghana. University Press, Accra, Ghana. Hepper, F.N., Neate, F., 1971. Plant collectors in West Africa. Oosthoek, Utrecht. Ghana Statistical Service, 2012. 2010 – Population and Housing Consensus. Sakoa Press Ltd., Accra. Hepper F. N., 1976. The West African herbaria of Isert and Thonning. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Hopkins, D., 2012. Peter Thonning and Denmark's Guinea Commission: A Study in Nineteenth-Century African Colonial Geography. Brill, Leiden. Hornemann, J.W., 1827. Review of Schumacher's Beskrivelse af guinesiske planter. Maanedskrift for litteratur 1, 315–322. Hutchinson, J., Dalziel, J.M., Keay, R.W.J.; Hepper, F.N., 1954–72. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1–3. Crown Agents, London. Irvine, F.R., 1930. Plants of the Gold Coast. Oxford University Press, London. Irvine, F.R., 1961. Woody plants of Ghana. O.U.P., London. Isert, P.E., 1788. Reise nach Guinea. In: Winsnes, S.A. (Ed.), 2007. Letters on West Africa and the Slave Trade. Paul Erdmann Isert's Journey to Guinea and the Carribean Islands in Columbia (1788). Sub-Saharan Publishers, Accra. Kamgang, R., Kamgne, E.V.P., Fonkoua, M.C., Beng, V.P.N., Sida, M.B., 2006. Activities of aqueous extracts of Mallotus oppositifolius on Shigella dysenteriae A1induced diarrhea in rats. Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology 33 (1–2), 89–94. Neuwinger, H.D., 2000. African traditional medicine. Medpharm, Stuttgart. Petiver, J., 1697. A Catalogue of Some Guinea-Plants, with Their Native Names and Virtues. Philosophical Transactions 1753 19, 677–686. Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, 2014. Published on the Internet: 〈http://www. prota4u.info/〉 (accessed 01.07.14). Schumacher, C.F., 1827. Beskrivelse af guineiske Planter, som ere fundne af danske Botanikere, især af Etatsraad Thonning. Hartv. Frid. Popps Bogtrykkerie, Copenhagen. The Plant List, 2014. Version 1.1. Published on the Internet: 〈http://www.theplant list.org/〉 (accessed 01.07.14).

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