article Ā· PLoS ONE
Traditional medicine provides essential primary healthcare in the Democratic Republic of Congo, yet much ethnobotanical knowledge remains undocumented. An ethnobotanical survey in Lubumbashi gathered data from 207 informants, including housewives, herbalists, and traditional healers, regarding plants used to stimulate uterine contractions. Informants identified 98 plant species across 43 botanical families, with Fabaceae being the most prevalent. A total of 122 traditional oxytocic preparations were documented, primarily using leaves and applied as cataplasms. Notably, 34 species were recorded for the first time as having oxytocic applications, and eight species were reported for the first time as medicinal plants in the country. Hylodesmum repandum and Crassocephalum montuosum had the highest relative citation frequencies, whilst Securidaca longepedunculata and Hibiscus sabdariffa had the highest use values. These documented taxa establish a baseline for subsequent pharmacological, phytochemical, and safety evaluations.
Documenting traditional botanical remedies preserves valuable cultural knowledge and provides empirical starting points for modern healthcare research. In regions reliant on herbal alternatives for reproductive health, recording these specific plant uses and preparations helps researchers prioritise candidate species for laboratory validation, ensuring maternal health practices can eventually be assessed for efficacy, safety, and proper dosage.
This work represents very early-stage discovery research that could inform natural product drug development for maternal healthcare. Pharmaceutical researchers and phytomedicine developers could use this catalogue to identify candidate species for bioassay-guided fractionation, phytochemical screening, and toxicology testing. Given that the data are limited to community surveys, substantial laboratory testing and clinical evaluation would be required before any commercial application or standardised therapeutic product could emerge.
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BACKGROUND: Traditional medicine constitutes a principal component of primary healthcare in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly in Lubumbashi. However, ethnobotanical knowledge related to its use remains incompletely documented and underutilized. The present study aimed to systematically document medicinal plants used as uterotonic among residents of Lubumbashi. METHODS: Ethnobotanical data were collected through structured interviews with 207 informants (housewives, š¯‘› = 103; herbalists, š¯‘› = 26; traditional healers, š¯‘› = 78; sex ratio M/F = 0.5; mean age 35.6 Ā± 4.3 years; mean professional experience 13 Ā± 4.2 years). RESULTS: Informants cited 98 medicinal plant species, predominantly trees (38 species), distributed across 43 botanical families, with Fabaceae being the most represented family (16 species). Malaria was the most frequently reported nonā€‘uterotonic indication (46 species). A total of 122 traditional oxytocic formulations were recorded; most involved leaves (43 recipes) and were principally administered as cataplasm (44 recipes). To our knowledge, 34 species were reported for the first time with oxytocic uses, of which eight are documented for the first time as medicinal plants in DRC. Among taxa, Hylodesmum repandum (relative citation frequency, RCF = 0.20) and Crassocephalum montuosum (RCF = 0.19) exhibited the highest citation frequencies, while Securidaca longepedunculata (use value, UV = 0.27) and Hibiscus sabdariffa (UV = 0.25) showed the greatest overall use values. CONCLUSION: These findings provide a baseline inventory for pharmacological, phytochemical, and toxicological studies, and support prioritization of bioassay-guided validation and conservation strategies for culturally important species.
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DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0355373
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