The ethnobotanical investigation of the Mapulana of Ehlanzeni District Municipality, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

Abstract

Ethnobotanical information still needs documentation as this will assist in the preservation of information for future generation. It becomes most important, particularly when considering the neglected ethnic subgroups. From fourteen villages in the Ehlanzeni district; elders, community adults and youth were selected by means of snow balling technique and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview them. Data was analysed by calculating the use value of selected plant species on common ailments. Hundred and forty-eight plants were observed as being utilized by Mapulana as food (fruits and African leafy vegetables), fuelwood, medicine and the making of utensils. The majority of the recorded plant species (54%) were native while 46% were naturalized. The majority of plants (37%) were utilized as medicine only, while food contributed only 19 percent usage, followed by medicine (13%), fuelwood (4%) and utensils (1%). A total of hundred and six plant species were identified as medicine treating 50 different ailments. Roots and leaves were the highly preferred plant and herb parts collected. The results showed that Sclerocarya birrea subsp. caffra (use value of 0.86) was reported as being used in four different ways; seconded by Cucurbita maxima (use value of 0.58) with two different uses. Numerous medicinal uses were observed from Aloe zebrina (use value 0.38) and Aloe marlothii (use value 0.29). Ailments with Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) were gonorrhea (1.80), stomach cleansing (1.40), chicken and cow diseases (1.19), bad luck (0.88), flu (0.84), and diarrhea (0.80). There were, in addition, many ailments with low ICF known by the elders and few community adults proving that the elderly are custodians of indigenous knowledge. Twenty-six line transects of 100m x 10m in size were constructed in determining the population structure of Peltophorum africanum Sond. in Bolla-Tau village. A total of 256 individuals were recorded from the transects. Data was analyzed using IBM Statistical Product and Service solutions (SPSS) statistics version 25 and Microsoft Excel 2013 version. The population structure of P. africanum was found to be bell-shaped. Logarithmic analysis, along with generalized log analysis depicts, that there was significance difference between the plant height and stem circumference. Resprouts of P. africanum individuals were only 18% and a majority of individuals (82%) were harvested. The study revealed that 43.84% of P. africanum individuals had traces of crown damage, as compared to individuals with healthy crowns (35.9%). The rest of the individuals had either light or moderate crown-health status.