MEDICINAL-PLANTS USED FOR CHILD-WELFARE IN THE TRANSKEI REGION OF THEEASTERN CAPE (SOUTH-AFRICA)

The indigenous people of Transkei, Eastern Cape, depend on the natural plant resources from their environment for food, medicine, pastoral, domestic and other cultural and religious needs. The present survey am ong the herbalists, traditional doctors and other knowledgeable local people has recorded medicinal and other uses of 53 plant species. Emph asis has been placed on those plants medicinally used for children bet ween the age of zero months and 12 years old. This firsthand informati on points out the significance of local flora to tribal groups and mod em people of Transkei. Ethnobotanical work is intended to bring to lig ht the traditional knowledge about plant use and its cultural signific ance, in order to lead to better ways of natural resource exploitation or to propose their management according to the needs and anthropolog ical characters of the human groups over which it is planned to interc ede, as well as to the elements present in their environment (ZAMORA-M ARTINEZ and de PASCUAL POLA, 1992). The plane kingdom represents a sou rce of food and medicine. Therefore, with the tendency in modern medic ine to assimilate and re-assimilate natural remedies in common practis e, under various forms, the potential of regional flora becomes very i mportant (DE FEO ct al., 1992).