title: Traditional plant use in Burkina Faso (West Africa): a national-scale analysis with focus on traditional medicine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The West African country of Burkina Faso (BFA) is an example for the enduring importance of traditional plant use today. A large proportion of its 17 million inhabitants lives in rural communities and strongly depends on local plant products for their livelihood. However, literature on traditional plant use is still scarce and a comprehensive analysis for the country is still missing.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study we combine the information of a recently published plant checklist with information from ethnobotanical literature for a comprehensive, national scale analysis of plant use in Burkina Faso. We quantify the application of plant species in 10 different use categories, evaluate plant use on a plant family level and use the relative importance index to rank all species in the country according to their usefulness. We focus on traditional medicine and quantify the use of plants as remedy against 22 classes of health disorders, evaluate plant use in traditional medicine on the level of plant families and rank all species used in traditional medicine according to their respective usefulness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1033 species (50%) in Burkina Faso had a documented use. Traditional medicine, human nutrition and animal fodder were the most important use categories. The 12 most common plant families in BFA differed considerably in their usefulness and application. Fabaceae, Poaceae and Malvaceae were the plant families with the most used species. In this study Khaya senegalensis, Adansonia digitata and Diospyros mespiliformis were ranked the top useful plants in BFA. Infections/Infestations, digestive system disorders and genitourinary disorders are the health problems most commonly addressed with medicinal plants. Fabaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Apocynaceae, Malvaceae and Rubiaceae were the most important plant families in traditional medicine. Tamarindus indica, Vitellaria paradoxa and Adansonia digitata were ranked the most important medicinal plants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The national-scale analysis revealed systematic patterns of traditional plant use throughout BFA. These results are of interest for applied research, as a detailed knowledge of traditional plant use can a) help to communicate conservation needs and b) facilitate future research on drug screening.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Carl Skottsbergs gata 22B, Box 461, SE 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden. alexander.zizka@bioenv.gu.se.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zizka
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Physiologie végétales, Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie Végétales, Université de Ouagadougou, 03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso. adjima_thiombiano@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Adjima
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thiombiano
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Molecular Evolution, Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Stefan.Dressler@senckenberg.de.|Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Stefan.Dressler@senckenberg.de.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dressler
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Physiologie végétales, Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie Végétales, Université de Ouagadougou, 03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso. nblandine@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Blandine Mi
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Nacoulma
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Physiologie végétales, Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie Végétales, Université de Ouagadougou, 03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso. o_amade@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Amadé
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ouédraogo
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Physiologie végétales, Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie Végétales, Université de Ouagadougou, 03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso. sonrenoma@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Issaka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ouédraogo
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Physiologie végétales, Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie Végétales, Université de Ouagadougou, 03 BP 7021, Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso. ouedraogooumar@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Oumarou
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ouédraogo
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Molecular Evolution, Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. georg.zizka@senckenberg.de.|Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. georg.zizka@senckenberg.de.|Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. georg.zizka@senckenberg.de.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zizka
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. karen.hahn@bio.uni-frankfurt.de.|Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. karen.hahn@bio.uni-frankfurt.de.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Molecular Evolution, Senckenberg Research Institute, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Marco.Schmidt@senckenberg.de.|Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Marco.Schmidt@senckenberg.de.|Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Marco.Schmidt@senckenberg.de.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D006801:Humans; D016488:Medicine, African Traditional / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010946:Plants, Medicinal