ETHNOBOTANICAL PRACTICES AMONG THE PEOPLE OF

OKAAKOKO,
NIGERIA

Abstract
The use of plants by indigenous peoples all over the world has been underreported and
this prevents the scientific community from benefiting from traditional knowledge which
has taken centuries to develop in the form we know them today. This paper reports on
the knowledge and useful application of various plant species by the people of Oka Akoko,
in Ondo State, Nigeria. A survey obtained from random interviews and consultations from
local herbalist and others knowledgeable on the general use of plants in the area revealed
a total of 85 plant species belonging to 43 families. Members of Euphorbiaceae,
Asteraceae, and Moraceae were the most represented plants with (5), (5) and (4) species
respectively. The plants were utilized for diverse uses including; medicine, talisman,
security, goodwill and romance and other miscellaneous uses in religious and cultural
ceremonies. This inventory of ethnobotanical plants of Oka Akoko, is hoped would extend
the knowledge base of the economic importance and medical potentials of some of plants
reported here.

Key words : Ethnobotany, medicinal plants, Oka Akoko, Ondo state.

Introduction
Background
Since orthodox medicine diverged from herbalism in the early 15th century as a prelude to
modern civilization and technological advancement, a sizeable proportion up to 75% to 90% of
the rural population worldwide still continues to rely on herbal medicine as an alternative or only
health care of choice (Levetin and McMahon, 1999). According to Alves and Rosa (2005), 80%
of the world general population relies on traditional medicine as their source of primary
healthcare.In traditional herbal medicine, plants and their extracts play an important role in the
treatment of various illnesses. Many of the wild plants also have multiple uses: for example
providing nutrients, adding to dietary variety, feeding livestock or providing medication for
human and livestock (Ogle et al., 2003). According to Olapade (2002), there is no doubt in the
fact that plants are very effective in the treatment of diseases. Traditional medicine as defined
by the World Health Organization is the total combination of knowledge and practices, whether
explicable or not used in diagnosing, preventing or eliminating physical, mental and social
causes of social causes of diseases and disabilities (Adodo, 2005). In Nigeria, herbal healing is
still widely practiced in rural as well as urban areas due to shortages of drugs and insufficient
means to visit established medical centers (Adodo, 2005). Herbalism remains a common
occupation in most suburban parts of Nigeria and the rest of Africa till date (Idu et al., 2007) just
as it is still popular in China, India (Adodo, 2003). According to Marco et al. (2003) and Lewis
(2003), research on medicinal and other useful plants used in indigenous society has been
driven by two complementary interests: the use of such information for research in the field of
natural sciences, especially with regards to ‘new’ bioactive natural products derived from plants
and the use of plant extracts in primary health care.Oka Akoko is located in Ondo State, Nigeria
and populated by predominantly people of the Yorubas extraction. From anecdotal evidences,
the Oka Akoko people believe that all diseases have natural cures and as such use plants for
medicine, which may sometimes be accompanied by rituals and sacrifices. The practitioners of
herbal medicine in Oka Akoko that were interviewed included full-time herbalists popularly
called ‘Babalawo’ most of who are revered
for their believed ability to communicate with the ‘spirit
world’ and could for-tell the future. Others are district
heads, family heads, old men and women who by long
time exposure to the use of plants have become familiar
with most of their effectiveness and uses. A few young
men also learnt the practice from their grand parents.
Market women who sell some of the remedies were also
interviewed.
Some of the reported contributions on traditional
medicinal plants in Nigeria in literature include: among
the Yoruba (western Nigeria ) Sofowora (1993), Adekunle
(2001), Gill (1990), reports on northern Nigeria include,
Idu et al. (2003 ), Idu and Olorunfemi (2000), Idu and
Omoruyi, (2003), Idu et al. (2008) and Nwosu (1998)
reported the use of medicinal plants in Eastern Nigeria.
However, no specific record of the ethnobotanical
practices of the people of Oka Akoko in Ondo State has
been reported. Although situated in Yoruba land, it is also
common knowledge that even with similar linguistic
groups, the way and manner plants are used in each
community is known to differ from place to place. The
aim of this study therefore is to present the first specific
records on the ethnobotanical practices of the people of
Oka Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria.
Materials and Methods
Description of the study area
Oka Akoko is sub-urban town and the current
administrative headquarter of Akoko South West local
government area of Ondo State, Nigeria. It is made up
of five parts namely; Oke Oka (the biggest part), Iwaro
Oka, Ayegunle Oka, Simerin Oka, and Uba Oka. It is
located on the latitude 7.220N and longitude 5.480E of
the map (fig. 1). Oka Akoko is an agricultural trade center
for the region; its chief products are cassava, cocoa, palm
oil and kola nuts. The city is accessible by highways linking
to Ibadan and Lagos as well as Abuja. Notable geological
features of Oka Akoko region are the steep-sided, domeshaped
mountains that dominate the landscape. In the
past, these rock outcroppings served as outposts to defend
the town from enemies.
Collection and identification of plants
Oral surveys were conducted on the general use of
plants in the area and most of the target contacts were
herbalists, traditional healers, district heads, market
women and some elderly people and a few others vast in
the oral history and traditions of the area. Notes were
taken and plant samples were collected, labeled and kept
in polythene bags.
Field trips to the surrounding bushes and forest
locations were conducted in search of specific examples
of plants mentioned. Visits to farms, villages and forests,
where discussions were held with men and women who
were known to be especially knowledgeable on the
general use of plants in their areas. The selection of sites
was geographically widespread to obtain a good sampling
of the entire population. Photographs of most of the plants
were taken to assist with identification. The offer of
financial incentives and gifts greatly facilitated the ease
with which some of the informants divulged their
knowledge of ethnomedicinal practices. The study was
carried out during both dry and rainy season.
Plant species were first identified using the local
‘Yoruba’ names and later matched with their respective
scientific classifications. Plants whose identity were in
doubt were collected, preserved in plant press and later
identified using the weed identification manual (Akobundu
and Agyakwa, 1998) and other literatures include;
Blackwell (1990), Dipe (2004), Duprjez and De Leener
(1992), Idu and Omoigui (1999), Gill (1990), Nakasone
and Paul (1999), Osagie and Eka (1998) and Soladoye et
al. (2005). Plant inventory were organized under three
categories (medicine, myth and magic and miscellaneous
including cultural ceremonies) and arranged in alphabetical
order beginning with family, scientific and local names,
occurrence, plant part used and preparation and uses.
Results
Eighty five (85) plants belonging to forty three (43)
families were listed from the study. Plants used for medical
purposed are shown in table 1, those employed in folklore
and magic (table 3) and plants for miscellaneous purposes
(table 4). Table 2 contains different plant(s) used for the
same ailments. Most of the plants are being used in
medicine with majority of the remedies prepared from
single plant sources. A few remedies were prepared from
a combination of more than one plants. Fig. 2 also showed
the proportions of plant types used in the communities
where over 50% of the plants were herbs. The survey
also included the local names, common names, Botanical
description, habitat and uses.
Discussion and Conclusion
This study provides a detailed inventory of plants used
for food, medicine and magic by the Oka-Akoko people
of Ondo State, Nigeria. No known documentation of the
ethnobotanical plants for this people has been previously
reported in the literature. This report on use of plants by
the Oka-Akoko people therefore helps to bridge the gap
of lack of documentation of folk knowledge of indigenous peoples earlier highlighted by Zent et
al. (2004) and Idu
et al. (2006).
This paper is relevant in historical as well as in the
present day context because some plants found in Oka –
Akoko have now been discovered to be useful especially
in the area of medicine for example, of the 85 plants
encountered during this compilation, 84 were found to be
medicinal, of which the Euphobiaceae and Astereceae
are the most prominent.
The list of plants use by the Oka-Akoko people are
in consonant with earlier reports (Adekunle, 2001; Dipe,
2004 and Olapade, 2002), who have reported extensively
of the use of plants by the Yorubas’ as a group. The only difference being the use of
Phyllanthus amarus,
Corchorus olitorius, Adansonia digitata for
medicine and Ficus thonningii, Milicia excelsa
and Adansonia digitata in myth and magic, which
appear to be unique for the Oka-Akoko people
and based on reports in the literature, not widely
practiced elsewhere in other Yoruba areas.
Edeoga et al. (2005), reported that plants of the
genus Euphorbia are used for cough, asthma and
hay fever contrary to their use as anti-microbial
agent in the treatment of wound in the community Most times, two or more plants may be
combined for enhanced effectiveness contrary to
the views of Adodo (2003) that combination of
two or more plants may lessen the effectiveness of the preparation. In some cases, different
parts of plants
may be used to cure different ailments and in others,
different plants may be employed by different herbal
practitioners in the treatment of the same ailments. For
instance; Lannea acida, Aspilia africana, Heliotropium
indicum, Phyllanthus amarus Gossypium hirsutum,
Ficus sycamore, Paulinia pinnata are used partly or
wholly in the treatment of dysentery.
For religious worship, plants play a very important
role in the lives of Oka people and as such are celebrated
and even worshipped. A notable example is the white
yam (Dioscorea rotundata) which is usually celebrated
annually as Yam Festival on the first Saturday of August.
This festival has grown to become one of the most
important events that bring the Oka people together annually. The Olubaka of Oka land is
usually the Chief
Celebrant of the festival which takes place in his palace.
Other important plants that are worshipped in the
communities include: Adansonia digitata and Milicia
excelsa. Kola nuts (Cola acuminata) is widely used for
prayers to the “gods” of the forest before plant materials
are collected. It is also used to pray for blessing during
wedding and naming ceremonies.
This, in addition to other spiritual beliefs and practices
of the people has made it relevant to their sustainability
in the community till this day, and has contributed towards
the enrichment of their unique cultural heritage. It was
observed that almost all the known diseases of the tropical
region which affect the people has natural cures, this has
led to the continuity of the practice among the people till
today. Nearly all the 38 known health problem in the community have their solution traced partly
or wholly to
the use of plants. The popularity of the practice therefore
attests to its efficacy among the people.
I agree with Adodo (2004) that ‘the challenge for
today’s scientific community is to sift out the fetish and
superstitious issues from our inherited deposits of
knowledge of traditional medicine without throwing away
the truth which our people had developed over the
millennia.’
Effects of forest depletion on plants availability for
medicinal purposes
Oka-Akoko located in a once flourishing tropical
rainforest is now under serious threat, due to uncontrolled
anthropogenic activities such as exploitation for lumber,
road and structural constructions and farmlands which has resulted in habitat fragmentation and
loss of
biodiversity (Green et al., 2005). This catalogue therefore
provides a baseline data of plants of ethnobotanical
importance. However, it was observed during the study
that traditional healers now have to travel farther in the
forests to get plants which were previously available
nearby. This is as a result of deforestation for
developmental purposes such as building of schools, road
construction and agriculture (Butler et al., 2000).
Deforestation which is sometimes inevitable should
therefore be done carefully to reduce the loss of
biodiversity to the barest minimum (Akinnibosun and
Odiete, 2008). Few of the plants were however protected
by local taboos and myth, e.g. Milicia excelsa. But these
also are now threatened by the spread of Christianity
and Islam across the communities.
Since most of the plants encountered in this study
were found in the wild, conscious effort should be made
to prevent their loss, as they become rarer and rarer.
Conservation of our natural resources should therefore
be taken more seriously to prevent the loss of our
biodiversity and some of these very important plants.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the village heads, men
and women who helped to obtain this information in Oka
Akoko.