2025, Vol. 13, Issue 2, Part C

author(s)
Rayori Douglas Mosoti and William Obiero Gisesa

abstract
Over the ages ethnic communities worldwide are known to use plants as alternative drugs sources for prevention, and treatment of ailments both in humans and animals. The driving forces behind their wide and vast uses include availability, accessibility, and minimal side effects, resulting to their over exploitation and others being endangered thus facing extinction. On the other hand, lack of proper documentation has led to loss of native knowledge with regard to some of the uses of these plants. Kenya is endowed with plants and various ethnic communities use them for various purposes including as herbal medicine. Kisii residents commonly known as Abagusii are known to use plants for medicinal purposes with success. However, there is no clear documentation of some of the medicinal plants used. Based on the importance of medicinal plants, this review therefore aimed at documenting information on medicinal plants used by Abagusii inhabiting Kisii County in South Nyanza region, Kenya. The information herein has been obtained from journal articles, workshop and seminar proceedings, books and electronic sources. Nevertheless, this list might not be exhaustive. Overall 107 plant species were identified belonging to 56 families. Asteraceae family was the most dominant with 9 species. Leaves were the most commonly used plant organ (62 species) then roots (35 species) for medicine preparations. The diseases treated by the medicinal plants compiled were classified into 11 categories. The highest number of plant species 72 followed by 30 plant species were used in treatment of digestive, and genito-urinary system related ailments respectively. From this review, it reveals that the residents of Kisii County possess an extensive knowledge on effective medicinal plants of their flora. The present review provides the basic information which can be used to conduct further research to qualify the use of these plants for medicinal purposes, and conservation of the plant species to prevent their overexploitation resulting in their extinction.