Assessing medicinal uses of the selected medicinal plants and impact of anthropogenic effects on their distribution in eastern Uganda.
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Date
2026
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Busitema University
Abstract
This study assessed the medicinal uses of seven selected medicinal plant species (Zanthoxylum chalybeum, Kigelia africana, Maytenus senegalensis, Warburgia ugandensis, Mondia whitei, Croton macrostachyus and Albizia coriaria) and examined the impact of anthropogenic activities on their distribution in the eastern and north-eastern region of Uganda. A mixed-methods ethnobotanical and ecological approach combined semi-structured interviews and field inventory of 46 informants drawn from six districts (Katakwi, Napak, Moroto, Tororo, Bungokho North and Namisindwa) with transect and quadrat sampling of plant occurrence in relation to land use and environmental variables. Six of the seven targeted species were actively documented; Croton macrostachyus was not encountered during the survey. Kigelia africana was the most frequently cited species (30.4% of use-reports), followed by Zanthoxylum chalybeum (26.1%) and Maytenus senegalensis (21.7%). The documented species were most commonly used to treat malaria (32.6%), measles (28.3%) and stomach pain (26.1%). Roots (65.2%) and bark (50.0%) were the plant parts most heavily harvested, and root digging (43.5%) and debarking (37.0%) were the dominant, and most destructive, harvesting methods. Charcoal/firewood cutting (76.7%) and general habitat loss from land-use change (73.2%) were the anthropogenic threats most widely reported by respondents, followed by agricultural expansion, livestock grazing and invasive species. More than half of respondents (56.5%) confirmed that harvested material entered commercial trade, compounding harvest pressure. The descriptive evidence gathered is inconsistent with the null hypothesis of no relationship between anthropogenic activity and plant distribution, and instead supports the view that harvesting for medicine, fuel wood extraction and land conversion are associated with the observed decline in availability of these species, particularly Mondia whitei and Warburgia ugandensis. Despite this pressure, willingness among respondents to participate in conservation was high (85.4%), with community sensitization the overwhelmingly preferred intervention (73.9%). The study recommends promoting sustainable harvesting techniques, domestication and cultivation of the documented species, community-based sensitization programmes, regulation of fuel wood-driven removal of medicinal trees, and further ecological and phytochemical research to corroborate these perception-based findings.
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Undergraduate research report
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Wanjala, E. (2026). Assessing medicinal uses of the selected medicinal plants and impact of anthropogenic effects on their distribution in eastern Uganda. [Unpublished undergraduate research report]. Busitema University.