J Ethnopharmacol. 1994 Dec; 44(3): 199-209.

Ethiopian traditional herbal drugs. Part III: Anti-fertility activity of 70 medicinal plants.

Desta B.

School of Pharmacy, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

A total of 210 extracts/fractions from 70 traditionally used Ethiopian plants were subjected to uterotonic and anti-implantation bioassays. A total of 24% of the samples had uterotonic activity and 33% exhibited anti-implantation activity, while 13% had both uterotonic and anti-implantation activity. The percentage cumulative activity for aqueous, 95% ethanolic and n-butanolic extracts/fractions was 10%, 31% and 25%, respectively. The number of plants whose aqueous extracts, 95% ethanolic extracts and n-butanolic fractions had both uterotonic and anti-implantation activity were 2, 15 and 11, respectively. These findings tend to support traditional claims of antifertility activity for some of the herbs.