Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Herbal remedies of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya: Establishing quantitative criteria for consensus

Les plantes médicinales Luo du district de Siaya au Kenya: identification des critères d’évaluation quantitative pour fins de consensus

  • Published:
Economic Botany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Data based on independent interviews with 45 herbalists of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya, comprised 1129 remedy reports and related to 330 species of plants. While 49% of the remedies were encountered only once we list here 66 remedies (49 taxa) that were confirmed through independent reports from three or more individuals. A log-linear model was applied to these data in order to establish criteria for evaluating the likely efficacy of specific remedies. A quantitative interaction effect was calculated for each remedy as a measure of its degree of confirmation. The validity of the values derived from the mathematical model is considered in relation to classical criteria for evaluating ethnomedicinal reports.

Résumé

Les résultats d’enquêtes individuelles avec 45 herboristes Luo du district de Siaya au Kenya ont permis de répertorier 330 espèces de plantes médicinales utilisées dans quelques 1129 traitements herboristes. Puisque 49% de ces plantes médicinales n’avaient été mentionnées qu’une seule fois, nous avons bâti une liste de 66 plantes médicinales (49 taxa) dont chacune a été rapportée par plus de trois herboristes. Les résultats obtenus ont été incorporés dans un modèle logarithmique linéaire afin d’identifier des critères d’evaluation de l’efficacité de ces plantes médicinales. Pour chacune des plantes médicinales “l’effet de l’interactíon quantitative” a été utilisé comme mesure de son degré de confirmation. La validité des résultats obtenus à partir de ce modèle mathématique a été comparée aux critères classiques d’évaluation des rapports ethnomédicinaux.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Altschul, S. von Reis. 1973. Drugs and foods from little-known plants. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Amico, A. 1977. Medicinal plants of southern Zambesia. Fitoterapia 48:101–136.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Asprey, G. F., and P. Thornton. 1954. Medicinal plants of Jamaica. West Ind. Med. J. 2:233–252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayensu, E. S. 1978. Medicinal plants of West Africa. Reference Publications, Inc., Algonac, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedi, S. J. 1978. Ethnobotany of the Ratan Mahal Hills, Gujarat, India. Econ. Bot. 32:278–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, Y. M. M., S. E. Fienberg, and P. W. Holland. 1984. Discrete multivariate analysis. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulos, L. 1983. Medicinal plants of North Africa. Reference Publications, Algonac, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkill, H. M. 1985. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. Vol. 1. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bye, R. A. 1986. Medicinal plants of the Sierra Madre: comparative study of Tarahumara and Mexican market plants. Econ. Bot. 40:103–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camazine, S. 1986. Zuni Indian medicine: folklore or pharmacology, science or sorcery? Pages 23–39in R. P. Steiner, ed, Folk medicine: the art and the science. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaudhuri, R. H. N., D. C. Pal, and C. R. Tarafder. 1975. Less known uses of some plants from the tribal areas of Orissa. Bull. Bot. Surv. India 17:132–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chogo, J. B., and G. Crank. 1981. Chemical composition and biological activity of the Tanzanian plantOcimum suave. J. Nat. Prod. 44:308–311.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Croom, E. M. 1983. Documenting and evaluating herbal remedies. Econ. Bot. 37:13–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis, P. A. 1988. Herbal medicine among the Miskito of eastern Nicaragua. Econ. Bot. 42:16–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duke, J. A. 1985. CRC handbook of medicinal herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duke, J. A., and E. S. Ayensu. 1985. Medicinal plants of China. Reference Publications, Algonac, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • DuPré, C. E. 1968. The Luo of Kenya: an annotated bibiliography. Institute for Cross-Cultural Research, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Encarnacion D., R., R. F. Murillo, and M. L. Pantoja. 1987. Traditional medicine of Baja California Sur (Mexico) II. J. Ethnophamacol. 20:209–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etkin, N. L. 1988. Ethnopharmacology: biobehavioral approaches in the anthropological study of indigenous medicines. Ann. Rev. Anthropol. 17:23–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freise, F. W. 1933. Plantas medicinaes Brasileiras. Bol. Agric. (Sao Paulo) 34:252–494.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gbile, Z. O., and S. K. Adesina. 1987. Nigerian flora and its pharmaceutical potential. J. Ethnopharmacol. 19:1–16.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hassanali, A., M. D. Bentley, A. M. Z. Slawin, D. J. Williams, R. N. Shepard, and A. W. Chapya. 1987. Pedonon, a spiro tetranortriterpenoid insect antifeedant fromHarrisonia abyssinica. Phytochemistry 26:573–575.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hodge, W. H., and D. Taylor. 1957. The ethnobotany of the island Caribs of Dominica. Webbia 12:513–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johns, T., and J. O. Kokwaro. n.d. Plants used for food by the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya. Econ. Bot. (In press.)

  • Kloos, H., J. H. Ouma, C. Kariuki, and A. E. Butterworth. 1987. Coping with intestinal illness among the Kamba in Machakos; Kenya, and aspects of schistosomiasis control. Soc. Sci. Med. 24:383–394.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kokwaro, J. O. 1972. Luo-English botanical dictionary. East African Publishing House, Nairobi.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1976. Medicinal plants of East Africa. East African Literature Bureau, Nairobi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lal, S. D., and K. Lata. 1980. Plants used by the Bhat community for regulating fertility. Econ. Bot. 34:273–275.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • —, and B. K. Yadav. 1983. Folk medicines of Kurukshetra District (Haryana), India. Econ. Bot. 37:299–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lassak, E. V., and T. McCarthy. 1983. Australian medicinal plants. Methuen Australia, North Ryde.

    Google Scholar 

  • le Grand, A., and P. A. Wondergem. 1987. Les phytothérapies anti-infectieuses de la forêt-savane, Senegal (Afrique Occidentale) I. Un inventaire. J. Ethnopharmacol. 21:109–125.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leiderer, R. 1982. La médecine traditionnelle chez les Bekpak (Bafia) du Cameroun. Collectanea Instituti Anthropos. Vol. 27. Haus Völker und Kulturen, Saint Augustin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lozoya, X., A. Aguilar, and J. Camacho. 1987. Encuestra sobre el uso actual de plantas en la medicina tradicional mexicana. Rev. Medica IMSS (Méx.) 25:283–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moskalenko, S. A. 1987. Slavic ethnomedicine in the Soviet Far East. Part I: herbal remedies among Russian/Ukrainians in the Sukhodol Valley, Primorye. J. Ethnopharmacol. 21:231–251.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McClure, S. A. 1982. Parallel usage of medicinal plants by Africans and their Caribbean descendants. Econ. Bot. 36:291–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oakes, A. J., and M. P. Morris, 1958. The West Indian weedwoman of the United States Virgin Islands. Bull. Hist. Med. 32:163–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odhalo, J. 1962. A report on the Luo culture and health. East African Med. J. 39:694–701.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Okorie, D. A. 1982. Chromones and limonoids fromHarrisonia abyssinica. Phytochemistry 21: 2424–2426.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver-Bever, B. 1986. Medicinal plants in tropical West Africa. Cambridge Univeristy Press, Cambridge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, L. M. 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettei, M. J., I. Miura, I. Kubo, and K. Nakanishi. 1978. Insect anti-feedant sesquiterpene lactones fromSchkuhria pinnata. Heterocycles 11(S1):471–480.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quisumbing, E. 1951. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Republ. Philipp., Dept. Agric. Nat. Resources, Techn. Bull. 16.

  • Rageau, J. 1973. Les plantes médicinales de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. O.R.S.T.O.M., Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao, R. R., and N. S. Jamir. 1982. Ethnobotanical studies in Nagaland. I. Medicinal plants. Econ. Bot. 36:176–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soukup, J. 1970. Vocabulário de los nombres vulgares de la flora Peruana. Colégio Salesiano, Lima.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tippo, O. 1989. Confessions of a botanical editor. Econ. Bot. 43:4–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trotter, R. T., and M. H. Logan. 1986. Informant concensus: a new approach for identifying potentially effective medicinal plants. Pages 91–112in N. L. Etkin, ed., Plants in indigenous medicine and diet. Redgrave Publishing Company, Bedford Hill, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Reis, S., and F. J. Lipp. 1982. New plant sources for drugs and foods from the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, E. A. 1979. Some indigenous plants used domestically by East African coastal fishermen. Econ. Bot. 33:35–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whisson, M. G. 1964. Some aspects of functional disorders among the Kenyan Luo. Pages 283–304in A. Kiev, ed., Magic, faith and healing: studies in primitive psychiatry today. The Free Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilemski, E. A. 1977. Disintegration of traditional society and economy in East Africa. Wilemski, Cologne.

  • Wong, W. 1976. Some folk medicinal plants from Trinidad. Econ. Bot. 30:103–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodworth, R. H. 1943. Economic plants of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Bot. Mus. Leafl. 11: 29–54.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, Macdonald College of McGill University, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, H9X 1C0, Quebec, Canada

    Timothy Johns

  2. Department of Botany, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya

    John O. Kokwaro

  3. Department of Statistics, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, CA

    Ebi K. Kimanani

Authors
  1. Timothy Johns
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John O. Kokwaro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ebi K. Kimanani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Johns, T., Kokwaro, J.O. & Kimanani, E.K. Herbal remedies of the Luo of Siaya District, Kenya: Establishing quantitative criteria for consensus. Econ Bot 44, 369–381 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03183922

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03183922

Keywords

Search

Navigation