AN INVENTORY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY THE NANDI PEOPLE IN TREATMENT AGAINST MALARIA Jeruto Pascaline *, Mutai Charles^ and Ouma George*^ *Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), P.O Box 249 Kitale, Kenya; ^Center for Traditional Medicine and Drug Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, P.O. Box 54840-00200, Nairobi, Kenya; *^Department of Botany and Horticulture,Maseno University, P.O. Box 333, Maseno, Kenya

BACKGROUND Plants useful - food, shelter, clothing, fuel, medicine, crafts, cosmetics, income & employment (Balick,1996;Karori, 2003; Olembo,1995;Kokwaro,1976 &1993). Herbal products- spices, tisane, medicinal raw materials, aromatics plants, functional food ingredients, essential oils, flavourings, fragrance products, dietary supplements and ecological balance (Kokwaro, 1976). 80-90% Africa population(WHO,2001). Increased demand both locally and internationally - High population, poverty (rural and urban), increased awareness, high cost of modern medicine, limited access to trained doctors, food scarcity (dry and famine seasons).

IeCAB2010 Symposium held 1-15th June 2010 Introduction… Malaria- major disease; affects over 90 countries; 10% of global population Cause 400-900 million fever cases & 3 million deaths annually Develops resistant strains of Plasmodium to drugs (derived from medicinal plants. IeCAB2010 Symposium held 1-15th June 2010

Objectives To carry out an ethnobotanical survey and document some medicinal plants used for treatment of malaria and its symptoms.

Materials and methods Face to face interviews & semi-structured questionnaire were administered Information on medicinal use was taken to be correct if given by 3 or more informants. Ethno-information-vernacular name, part used, preparation and dosage. Herbarium specimens were collected using standard herbarium techniques ( Leenhout,1968 and Stace ,1993) & Identified at UON and East Africa Herbaria Authentic specimens deposited – Botanic garden Maseno university herbarium (future reference)

RESULTS 44 medicinal plants identified-27 families Habit of mostly used herbal plants are shrubs (21species) & trees (10 species) and herbs (9 species). Liana least used (4 species) Plant parts frequently used – roots 58.06%, bark (40.32%) and leaves (32.26%)

Plant parts utilized in herbal medicines PART UTILIZED FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE (%) Roots 36 58.06 Leaves 20 32.26 Bark 25 40.32 Seeds 1 41.61 Whole plant 3 4.84 Flowers 1.61 Bulb Total 100

Conclusions Survey helped bring to light the uses of plant species; utility and potentials that were previously little known. The result indicates richness of medicinal floristic diversity in Nandi district and possible on-farm conservation.

Acknowledgment SGS- Grants Nandi people for sharing generously their knowledge of medicinal plants with us Co-authors SGS- Grants

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