Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used for cancer treatment in Kebbi state, North-west Nigeria

Abstract Kebbi state is endowed with medicinal plants that have been used by different tribes especially the Hausa-Fulani, Dakarkari and Gungawa to treat different ailments such as cancer for decades. Therefore, this study is aimed at documenting the medicinal plants used for treating cancer in Kebbi state. Demographic data, personal information of willing informants and information on plants used and mode of treatment was collected via administration of a structured questionnaire. Data was collected and analysed, whereas, cited plants were collected, identified and assigned voucher numbers. The study revealed a total of 48 medicinal plants across 25 different families. Prosopis africana (Guill. & Perr.) Taub ranked first with a citation frequency of 44.9%. The Hausa-Fulani tribes were predominantly the traditional medicine practitioners (53.6%). Plants parts used include leaf, bark, root and whole plant. Generally, the herbal medicine is prepared as a powder and mixed with local beverages (kunu or fura) and administered orally 2–3 times daily. Whereas, residues of the powder are topically applied. Future studies should investigate the antiproliferative potency, determine the mechanisms mediating the cytotoxic potency and isolate the cytotoxic compounds from the active frequently mentioned, scarcely investigated and uninvestigated plants.