Medicinal Uses of Savanna Forest Plants

A savanna is a huge plain or grassland found between equatorial forests and tropical deserts. The largest savannas are in Africa. Many plants that grow in savannas throughout the world are used for medicinal purposes.

Baobab

• This tree may grow as much as 18 meters high, and its trunk may have a diameter of nine meters. The baobab's branches are short and stubby, and its bark is thick and gray. Its white flowers measure several centimeters across, and they can be seen hanging from the higher branches. The fruit of the baobab is football-shaped and can measure as much as 45 centimeters long with short, dense hair covering the entire fruit.

  Drinking a mixture of baobab pulp and water will help cure diarrhea. The hollow trunks of these trees are often used as sources of fresh water.

Azadiraltha Indica

• When it comes to using non-wood forest products, traditional medicine and religion are inseparable because both make use of soil minerals and flora and fauna resources.

  Azadiraltha indica is an exotic species that grows in the savanna zone and can commonly be found in urban and rural settings. To make a tea-like remedy, people pick the leaves of Azadiraltha indica and then immerse filtrate from the leaves in pots of boiling water for several hours. This solution is given to a person who has malaria fever.

Biophytum petersianum Klotzsch

• Biophytum petersianum Klotzsch is a medicinal plant that grows widely from Asia to New Guinea and in tropical and subtropical Africa. Locals call it Yeleni Nèloutogo and Djutogoui. The plant's stem grows up to 25 centimeters long. Its leaves are very sensitive and grow in a terminal crown.

  The most common preparation from this herb is powder, which is boiled in water and used to treat cerebral malaria and various kinds of pain.

Cola cordifolia

• Remedies made from the Cola cordifolia tree are reported to cure various kinds of pain, fever and diarrhea.

  In Mali, the powdered bark of Cola cordifolia is mixed with water to treat wounds. Other Cola cordifolia remedies are used to treat various ailments and chest infections. In Gambia, a water concoction treats constipation; and the inner bark can be applied to a swollen finger to bring pus to the surface and hasten its cure.

  Also in Gambia, a powdered concoction is used as a diuretic, and the sap is used for eye treatments. In Senegal, the tree's leaves are soaked in water to treat leprosy. Roots that are split up and mixed with water are used in the treatment of gonorrhea.

Combretum Molle

• The shrub Combretum molle, or Ganianka, grows in the savanna forest from Senegal to West Cameroon and can be seen throughout tropical Africa. The main use of this plant is to treat malaria. It is also used to treat various kinds of pain. Water mixed with the powdered bark along with mumuye gum makes a gargle for sore throat. The bark is mixed with cereal foods and used to treat dysentery. This mixture is also given to prevent sickness in young children.

  In different parts of Africa, Combretum molle is used to treat ascites, bronchial infections, edema, dropsy, yellow fever and jaundice, diarrhea, abdominal complaints, anuria and blennorhea. It is also considered a poison antidote.