Survey of Plants Used in Folk Medicine in Bali, Gashaka and Sarduana Local Government Areas Taraba State Nigeria for the Treatment of Cancers

Abstract

Cancer disease has been on the increase recently in both developed and developing countries of the world resulting in 40 million deaths annually. Ethno-medicinal survey of indigenous herbal plants used in traditional medicine in the treatment of cancers was conducted in major communities in Bali, Gashaka and Sarduana Local Government Areas Taraba State Nigeria. Traditional medicine practitioners as well native herbalists, herbal plants and product marketers were orally interviewed by structured questionnaires. One hundred and six (106) species of plants from forty-nine (49) families were surveyed and documented in this study. Out of these, 70 % of the plants were neither screened for their anticancer activity nor documented in literatures while no any members of the Families Salvadoraceae, Simaroubaceae, and Elatinaceae have ever been reported for their anticancer activity. Members of the Family Fabaceae have the highest number of species distribution with 15%, followed by Family Asteraceae with 9% while Family Rubiaceae and Annonaceae have 6% and 5% distribution respectively. The leaves of the plants were the most used part in the treatment of cancers in all the communities, and preparation is usually by decoction. Sides effects of these plants were generally low on observation.The need for conservation of these plants is of utmost important because most these plants might go into extinct as a result of urbanization pressure and timber activities in most of these areas surveyed.