Conservation of indigenous medicinal botanicals in Ekiti State, Nigeria

The rapid appraisal method was used to identify the botanicals used ethnomedicinally from a total of 300 randomly selected respondents drawn from the existing three geo-political zones of Ekiti State, Nigeria. The results obtained revealed that about 40% of the 71 botanicals identified presently rare. Most of the presently abundant botanicals are species primarily cultivated for other purpose other than medicine. Most of the identified species are valued for their curative effects on malaria and fever, the predominant diseases in the study area. The need for the conservation of the rare species cannot be over emphasised as most rural dwellers in the study area depend mostly on herbs from these species. Strategies towards the attainment of this goal are proposed.