About the Author(s)


Abosede A. Adu
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Nigeria

Olubunmi J. Sharaibi Email symbol
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Nigeria

Olutoyin J. Aderinola
Department of Zoology and Environmental Biology, Lagos State University, Nigeria

Citation


Adu, A.A., Sharaibi, O.J. & Aderinola, O.J., 2017, ‘Inventory and ethnobotanical assessment of plant species in Lagos State University, Ojo campus, Lagos, Nigeria’, Journal of Medicinal Plants for Economic Development 1(1), a23. https://doi.org/10.4102/jomped.v1i1.23

Original Research

Inventory and ethnobotanical assessment of plant species in Lagos State University, Ojo campus, Lagos, Nigeria

Abosede A. Adu, Olubunmi J. Sharaibi, Olutoyin J. Aderinola

Received: 18 May 2017; Accepted: 10 Aug. 2017; Published: 12 Sept. 2017

Copyright: © 2017. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Inventory and ethnobotanical assessment of plant species growing on Lagos State University (LASU) Ojo main campus, Lagos State, Nigeria, were carried out. The aim was to document the vegetation composition and ethnobotanical uses of plants in the study area with a view to developing strategies for their conservation. Plant species with their frequency of occurrence were compiled and their representatives were collected for proper identification. Ethnobotanical assessment was carried out through oral interviews of herbalists, herb sellers and others with experience in traditional medicine. A total of 35 plant species belonging to 25 families were recorded from the survey. Poaceae has the highest number of species; Anacardiaceae, Asteraceae, Asparagaceae, Combretaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Malvaceae and Moraceae were all represented with two species each while the remaining 17 families were represented with one species each. Murraya paniculata recorded the highest frequency of occurrence within the study area with 165 individual plants followed by Ficus benjamina with 134 plants, then Ixora coccinea with 121 plants and Terminalia ivorensis with 103 plants. Anarcardium occidentale, Araucaria heterophylla and Ficus carica recorded the lowest frequency of occurrence with two plants each. The trees were the dominant plant habit (46%) followed by the shrubs (23%), grasses (17%) and herbs (14%). The plant species identified are of significant ethnobotanical uses ranging from food to medicine and ornamental. Effective conservation strategies for these plants include enacting laws against indiscriminate tree cutting, encouraging afforestation, proper maintenance of the parks and gardens and establishment of medicinal plant farms.

Introduction

Taxonomic surveys have been helpful in documenting the species that had one time or an other existed in different locations within the country (Anoliefo et al. 2006; Soladoye et al. 2005, 2013) and the value of any biodiversity analysis and the adequacy of conservation measures depend on the quality of basic data, as put by Valdecasas and Camacho (2003). Similar studies have also been used to document medicinal plants reported to be valuable in the traditional management of ailments in Nigeria and other West African countries (Asase et al. 2005; Bhat, Etejere & Oladipo 1990; Soladoye et al. 2014). Plants and animals are very important to human survival and thus need to be studied and taken adequate care of, because of their importance in maintaining the ecological balance of our region. Ogie-Odia et al. (2010) reported that forest diversity is increasingly threatened as a result of deforestation, fragmentation, climate change and other stressors. The rich flora diversity is a major source of raw plant materials that enable sustainability in the human communities now and in the future. In addition, research has equally shown that plant diversity could affect food web connectivity in a variety of ways (O’Gorman & Emmerson 2009). Higher plant diversity increases plant productivity and predator abundance (Haddad et al. 2009), which increases the amount of energy transfer among interacting species and thus increases food web connectivity. Consequently, such a measure should begin from the immediate environment and, hence, from our campus flora and fauna. Plants and animals are sources of food, shelter and clothing. A healthy ecosystem is built when it is maintained in a sustainable manner. Hence, this study was designed to establish the flora profile as well as to document the ethnobotanical values of plant species growing on Lagos State University main campus, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria with a view to develop strategies for their conservation.

Lagos State University, Ojo, was established in the year 1983 by then governor of Lagos State Mr Lateef Jakande and was located along Badagry Expressway, Ojo. In the beginning of her academic carrier, the university started with three faculties, namely Law and Humanities, Education and Science. Today, the university has 11 faculties and is to increase to more than that in the nearest future. In early 1984, the surrounding areas were highly forested and swampy and composed of varieties of different flora of trees, shrubs and grasses but today the vegetation is dominated by grasses and shrubs with trees sparsely distributed in the area. Currently, the flora is being deteriorated because of construction of new buildings such as new senate building, new faculty of Science building, new radio station, new auditorium, sandwich building and sport centre.

Today, the old landmass has given way to new vegetation replacing indigenous and exotic vegetation. The planting of exotic vegetation started in 1990 by the then head of the Botany Department. Not all the indigenous vegetation has the capacity of self-regeneration. Nowadays, the university campus is well rehabilitated and it is very important that the composition of the vegetation, the regeneration capacity of the vegetation and the importance of the tree species are studied.

Materials and methods

Study area

This study was conducted in Lagos State University, Ojo main campus, Lagos State, south-western Nigeria. It lies on latitude 6.26°N 3.11°S and longitude 6.467° W3.183°E (Figure 1). The area is characterised by various floras such as grasses, shrubs and trees. Trees are relatively dispersed and the vegetation is dominated by grasses and shrubs compared to trees. The terrain is flat and more than half is dominated by buildings. The vegetation is largely affected by human activities. The study area was divided into eight sampling plots as follows:

  1. Faculty of Management Sciences and Iyana-Ipaja gate.

  2. Faculty of Education, Faculty of Social Science and Faculty of Transport.

  3. Faculty of Science.

  4. Sports Centre and Student Affairs Division.

  5. Master of Business Administrative and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) area.

  6. Faculty of Law.

  7. Faculty of Art.

  8. Central administrative blocks and Iyana-Iba gate.

FIGURE 1: Map of Ojo Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State showing the location of the study area.

Collection and identification of plant species

Field collection and identification of plant species occurring within the university community was conducted between June 2015 and November 2016. The occurrences of plant specimens in each zone were recorded. The collected plant species were identified by plant taxonomists in the Department of Botany, Lagos State University. Correct names of the identified species follow International Plant Name Index (IPNI). A comprehensive list of species was thereafter carefully documented, along with their families, habits and local names by which they are known within the study area.

Ethnobotanical assessment

Ethnobotanical information about the identified plant species was obtained through oral interviews. The interviews were conducted randomly with a total of 60 local respondents including herb sellers, herbalists, elderly people and others with knowledge of herbal medicine (Table 1). The consent of all the respondents was sought before the interviews. The interviews were held in local language (Yoruba); hence, there was no need for interpreters and this allowed accurate data recording. The information collected included the local names, ethnobotanical uses, the parts used, modes of preparation and administration of the identified plants.

TABLE 1: Distribution of local informants in accordance with their age groups.

Results

The profile of the local respondents interviewed for the ethnobotanical uses of the identified plant species on Lagos State University main campus is shown in Table 1.

Thirty-five plant species belonging to 25 families were found within the Lagos State University campus as shown in Table 2. Family Poaceae had the highest number of species (16%) followed by families Anarcardiaceae, Asparagaceae, Asteraceae, Combretaceae, Euphorbicaeae, Malvaceae and Moraceae with two species each (8%) while the remaining families were represented with one species each (4%) as represented in Table 3. Murraya paniculata recorded the highest frequency of occurrence within the study area with 165 individual plants followed by Ficus benjamina with 134 plants then Ixora coccinea with 121 plants and Terminalia ivorensis with 103 plants. Anarcardium occidentale, Araucaria heterophylla and Ficus carica recorded the lowest frequency of occurrence with two plants each (Table 4 .) Trees were the dominant plant habit, comprising 16 angiosperm species (46% of the total enumeration). This was followed by shrubs with eight species (23%), grasses with six species (17%) and herbs with five species (14%) as shown in (Figure 2). The identified plant species were of significant ethnobotanical values ranging from food to medicinal and ornamental as represented in Table 5.

FIGURE 2: Distribution of plant habit within Lagos State University campus.

TABLE 2: Distribution of plant species in Lagos State University campus.
TABLE 3: Species distribution within the identified families.
TABLE 4: Frequency of occurrence of plant species on Lagos State University campus.
TABLE 5: Ethnobotanical uses of identified plant species in Lagos State University campus.

Discussion

This study was able to compile the flora diversity on Lagos State University campus. In the various sampling plots, plant species varies in diversity and occurrence; T. ivorensis and Ficus bejamina were well dominated in all the plots. This work is related to the flora in Bowen University Iwo, Osun State, where research was conducted on the angiosperm diversity, (Anoliefo et al. 2006; Soladoye et al. 2005). Similar survey was conducted which was based on some medicinal plant species of Southwestern University Nigeria campus, Ogun State, Nigeria; a total of 90 plant species belonging to 48 families and 85 genera were recorded in which Euphorbiaceae has the highest number of species (8) followed closely by Asteraceae (6) and Papilionaceae (5 species) (Soladoye et al. 2013). Similar survey was conducted on the endangered tree species in Cross River State and its environs; 85 endangered tree species were reported (Oguntala et al. 1996).

Plants found in the study area are of significant economic importance, ranging from medicinal to food and ornamental. Similiar to the results of the ethnobotanical assessment of the identified plant species, some of the plants in the study area have been reported to have significant ethnobotanical values. Acalypha wilkesiana for skin irritations and diseases (Omage & Azeke 2014), Azadirachta indica for malaria (Alzohairy 2016), Cycas revoluta as antimicrobial (Mathur et al. 2011), Cymbopogon citratus as anti-diarrhoeal (Shah et al. 2011), Dieffenbachia seguine as ornamental (Cuartas & Farfan 2006), Eucalyptus globulus for cold, coughs and nasal congestion (Patil & Nitave 2014), Gmelina arborea as laxative and anti-helminthic (Pathala, Harini & Hedge 2015), Mangifera indica as food and antioxidant (Parvez 2016), Musa paradisiaca for diabetes (Kumar et al. 2012), M. paniculata as anti-inflammatory (Dosoky et al. 2016), Vernonia amygdalina as purgative, antioxidative and chemopreventive (Farombi & Owoeye 2011) and so on. This justifies the importance of plant species in the maintenance of ecosystem and as a source of livelihood for man; hence, these must be conserved properly (Soladoye et al. 2015).

Conclusion

This study showed that Lagos State University is rich in plant biodiversity that are of significant ethnobotanical value; thus, the need to conserve them from further deterioration because of human activities is very paramount. From this investigation, there are many important medicinal plants found in the study area which could serve as sources of raw materials to pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries as well as other manufacturing industries in Nigeria and globally. Bio-prospecting in this area would lead to income generation for the university community. Medicinal plants identified also have marketing potentials; therefore, efforts should be geared towards creating an enabling environment for their existence and preventing over-exploitation. Indigenous knowledge of these medicinal plants should also be properly preserved so that such would not be lost. Deforestation which is a major problem in the study area should be discouraged and afforestation practices encouraged in the area. Construction work and developmental projects should consider plants species found in the study area and proper analysis should be done before commencement of such projects.

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Authors’ contributions

A.A.A. was the project leader. A.A.A. conceptualised, designed and supervised the project. O.J.S. made conceptual contributions, carried out the literature search and edited the manuscript while O.J.A. carried out data acquisition and analysis as well as manuscript preparation.

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