ethnobotanical survey of the takamanda forest reserve - Impact ...

Table 1: Population Structure of the Sampled Village and Age Groups (yrs)
Sample site 0-15yr 16- 31-45yr 46-60yr >60yr Total HH*
30yr
Kekukesim I 201 122 48 30 22 423 94
Obonyi III 170 102 46 30 22 372 85
Matene 382 206 79 38 20 725 129
Ingini na na na Na Na 250**
Basho 122 43 25 14 10 214 40
HH* = Number of households, ** = Approximate total population
Source: Schmidt-Soltau, 2001.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Ethnobotanical Flora of the Takamanda Forest Reserve
Some 328 plant species belonging to 243 genus and 91 families were recorded to be important in
the five ethnic groups surveyed. Species such as Irvingia sp., Ricinodendron heudelotii, Cola
accuminata and Dioscorea sp. were top ranking important non-timber forest products identified.
These species were found and enumerated in great numbers.
The most important families were: Leguminosae-Papilionoideae (40 times mentioned); Rubiaceae
(39) ; Euphorbiaceae (36) ; Palmae (27) ; Acanthaceae (23) ; Annonaceae (21) ; Compositae
(21) ; Guttiferae (19) ; Irvingiaceae (19) ; Piperaceae (19) ; Leguminosae-Mimosoideae (16) ;
Burseraceae (15) ; Apocynaceae (14) ; Marantaceae (13) ; Moraceae (13) ; Sterculiaceae (13) ;
Zingiberaceae (12) ; Gramineae (11) ; Cecropiaceae (10) ; Combretaceae (10) ; Labiatae (10) and
Urticaceae (10). Among the genera Piper and Irvingia were most used with a record of 19 times
mentioned. They are followed by Pterocarpus (13), Massularia (13), Asystasia (13), Aframomum
(12), Cola (11) and Garcinia (10) (Appendix 1).
Figure 3 shows the numbers of non-medicinal plant species recognised for various categories of
uses in the villages studied.
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