Medicinal Plants in Malanje, Angola: Ethnopharmacological Survey 2018-2023

272 ethnospecies were documented from interviews with 20 traditional healers in Malanje Municipality, Angola, between 2018 and 2023. Agostinho António Barroso published this first systematic ethnopharmacological baseline, identifying 78 taxa to species level and prioritizing species like Terminalia brachystemma for further study. The data includes plant families, parts used, preparation methods, and treated conditions grouped by ICD-11 categories.

Use Cases

• Prioritize plant species for pharmacological screening based on reported Rank Order Priority (ROP) values.
• Analyze plant part usage patterns (e.g., leaves vs. roots) for conservation and sustainable harvest planning.
• Study correlations between plant families (e.g., Fabaceae, Asteraceae) and treated disease categories (e.g., gastrointestinal disorders).
• Investigate preparation methods (decoction, maceration) and their association with specific therapeutic indications.
• Support biodiversity conservation policy by mapping species with high harvest pressure from root collection.

Strengths

• Includes quantitative indices like frequency measures and Rank Order Priority (ROP) for 272 ethnospecies.
• Data is taxonomically verified against herbarium material, with 78 taxa identified to species level.
• Therapeutic indications are systematically grouped using the ICD-11 classification system.
• Fieldwork methods included GPS mapping and in-situ photographic documentation.

Limitations

• The sample size is modest, based on interviews with 20 traditional healers.
• Taxonomic resolution is incomplete for many of the 272 reported ethnospecies.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred from the PDF report.

Provenance

Source

Agostinho António Barroso via figshare

Collection Method

Semi-structured interviews, participatory observation, GPS mapping, and taxonomic verification of voucher specimens.

Time Range

2018 to 2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-17 13:07:29

Geography

Malanje Municipality, north-central Angola