Herbal treatments in Aldai and Kaptumo divisions in Nandi district, Rift valley province, Kenya.

Ethno botanical study was done in Aldai and Kaptumo divisions in Nandi district situated on the western part of Rift valley province. It borders Kakamega district to the north–west, Uasin Gishu district to the north and East, Kericho district to the southeast , Kisumu to the south east and Vihiga district to the west (Anon, 1997-2002). With forest reserves occupying 54,487.4 hectares. The district lies within latitudes 0 0 and 0 0 34 " North and Longitudes 34 0 44 " and 35 0 25 " East. It occupies an area of 2,873 km 2 with forest reserves occupying 56,019 hectares. South nandi forest covering an area of 1800ha. It has an altitude of 1700-2000m (Kigomo, 1991). It has five administrative divisions. Aldai division occupies 567km 2 and subdivided into twelve locations and 38 sub-locations (Kigomo, 1991). Aldai division has the highest population density of 382 people in 567 km 2 in 2001 and the same trend is expected to increase with a population growth rate of 2.9%. These people still perform herbal treatments for curing general disorders. For them, use of herbs is the cheapest way for curing various health disorders. A review of literature reveals that much work has been done on ethnomedicinal plants in Kenya and other Bussmann et al., 2006). But still there are some tribal pockets which could be surveyed for the search of new traditional medicines. We report the ethnomedicinal plants of Nandi district for the first time. Ethnobotanical survey was done in different parts of Aldai division for search of new traditional herbal medicines in Nandi south district. A total of 60 practitioners were interviewed, these included males and females that depended on wild plants as sources of medicine either for self-medication or for treating others. Data was collected by interviewing 50% of the renowned herbalists (30 years and above) using stratified purposive random sampling. The plants were identified and the voucher specimens were deposited in the University of Nairobi Herbarium. The survey gathered information on 25 medicinal plant species reported by the informants for their medicinal use. 1. Asystasia schimperi (Acanthaceae) T.Anders Local name: Chemurguiwet Use: leaves are used as infusion (internal) to treat cough, skin diseases 2.Dryopteris marginalis (L.) Kuhn (Aspidiaceae) Local name: Tilalwet Use: Leaves shoot is used as infusion (external) for skin diseases 3. Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn Bracken (Aspidiaceae) Local name: Tilalwet Use: leaves shoot is used as …