J Ethnopharmacol. 1980 Mar; 2(1): 9-17.

The knowledge of medicinal plants in Africa today.

Lantum DN.

The oral tradition for communication in Africa is stressed as well as the secrecy of the treatments with plants by traditional medicine-men. This makes it difficult to obtain more exact information on all the different aspects of traditional medicine. Nevertheless, some data have been collected in the Francophone countries. In English-speaking Africa efforts to gather information have also been made and a number of valuable reports and books published. A number of books report our present knowledge in the African regions south of the equator, mainly in Zambia.