Medicinal Uses of Ackee-apple (Blighia sapidaK.D Koenig) in Rainforest and Savanna Areas of South Western Nigeria

Abstrak

Fruits from the forests have multiple benefits for mankind in the areas of food, spices for cooking, medicine and income generation. The study was conducted in 10% of the total number of local government area randomly selected in the rain forest and savannah vegetation zone in South-west Nigeria.Information on the dependence of Blighia sapidafor medicinal use was collected from eight (8) respondents in three communities of each selected local government using a semi-structured questionnaire and descriptive statistics used to analyze the data.The respondents predominantlyuse various parts of the tree to cure malaria. The variation observed among respondents in the states and vegetation zones suggests that people should be enlightened more on the effective uses of the plant to cure various ailments. More awareness needs to be created on the existence of Blighia sapidaas it is not widely known like other fruits trees such as bitter cola (Garcinia kola)and white star apple(Chrysophylum albidum). Efforts should be made towards the domestication of Blighia sapida because of the threat into extinction caused by harvesting the timber for its high density wood.