Ethnomedical survey of the plants used by traditional healers in Narok County, Kenya

Abstract

Most of the plants used by herbalists amongst the various Kenyan communities have not been documented despite their wide spread use. The purpose of this research was to document the medicinal plants used by the herbalists from the Maasai, a community that still relies on herbal medicine to a large extent for the provision of medical services. Semistructured interviews, direct observations,group discussions, and in-depth interviews were used to collect information from the traditional healers. A total of 47 plant species belonging to 31 families were identified. They were used in the treatment of 33 medical and 4 veterinary conditions.