421103

Diversity, Phytochemical Screening and Ethnobotany of Macrophytes Within Freshwater Streams in the Coastal City of Limbe (Cameroon)

Article

Last updated: 09 Apr 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

The emergence and spread of diseases continue to be a major public health concern. Despite the successful management of common tropical diseases by conventional medicine, the high cost of drugs and the lack of health facilities in rural areas of most developing countries limit its use and promote over reliance on alternative medicine for the treatment of diseases. Freshwater streams are good sites harboring some of these medicinal plants. There is very little information on the floristic composition of these streams. The main objective of this study was to assess the floristic composition, ethno-botanical uses and to conduct a phytochemical screening of some aquatic macrophytes in Limbe 1 Municipality. Following the floristic survey on three prominent streams, 300 semi-structured questionnaires were purposively administered to inhabitants of Limbe 1 Municipality. A show-and-tell method was used to identify aquatic plants with medicinal value. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of nine selected plants was done using standard procedures. A total of 46 macrophytes from 23 families and 41 genera were identified across these streams; Forty were emergent. Submerged plants were Ceraptoteris thalictroides, Hydrocharis dubia, Anubias bateri, and Persicaria amphibia while Lemna minor and Nymphaea lotus were floating. A high Shannon diversity (2.70, 2.68 and 2.66) was recorded in Moliwe, Bosumbu and Laverie Espoir, respectively. Only 24 aquatic plants identified had medicinal value, with Commelina benghalensis, Costus lucanucianus, Eremomastax speciosa, Acmella caulirhiza and Ageratum conyzoides having the highest use value and had varying quantities of flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, steroids, tannins, cardiac glycosides and terpenes in their methanol extracts. Most cited disease categories treated using these aquatic plants were gynecological, respiratory and dermatological, etc. Further empirical investigations to characterize these bioactive phytochemicals and their biosafety should be carried out. These valuable ecosystems should be protected for their valuable ecosystem services.

DOI

10.21608/ejabf.2025.421103

Keywords

Phytochemical screening, medicinal plants, Ethnobotanical survey, tropical diseases

Authors

First Name

Awo

Last Name

et al.

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

-

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

29

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

54176

Issue Date

2025-03-01

Receive Date

2025-04-07

Publish Date

2025-03-01

Page Start

1,789

Page End

1,821

Print ISSN

1110-6131

Online ISSN

2536-9814

Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/article_421103.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=421103

Order

123

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries

Publication Link

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Diversity, Phytochemical Screening and Ethnobotany of Macrophytes Within Freshwater Streams in the Coastal City of Limbe (Cameroon)

Details

Type

Article

Created At

09 Apr 2025