Ethnobotany and the Luo

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Ethnobotany and the Luo

• Obiero Juma

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Luo Tribe

• Nilotic people (refers to linguistic
  classification)
• 1000 A.D migration started from Sudan
• Present day Luo settled around lake Victoria from
  Uganda
• Approx. 5million Luo, 1.5 in Kenya

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• Gawo Mboya
• Luo traditional medical practitioner, priest and
  prophet. Used astrology and movement of wild
  animals to predict future
• Nyaundi Omulo
• Luo medican woman. Specialized in women and
  childrens diseases but also helped people with
  mental illness

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OberAlbizia coriaria

• Leguminosae subfam. Mimosoideae
• Tree 6-36m high. Bark rough and flaking, 3-6
  pairs of pinnae 6-11 leaflet pairs

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• Root bark used in concoctions to treat
  infertility, menorrhagia, abortions and
  post-partum haemorrhage
• Decoction of bark drunk or ash licked to treat
  whooping cough. In Siaya, used to cure stomach
  problems.
• Used in stem baths to treat yamo (general term
  for illness) as well as skin problems ie. Rashes
• Stem is used as a chewing stick

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ObinoSenna didymobotrya

• Leguminosae subfam. Caesalpinioideae
• Large shrub 5 m high
• Leaves up to 45 cm long in leaflets 10-20 pairs
• Flowers bright yellow

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• Used in baths to treat skin diseases.
• Decoction of flowers and roots drunk to cure
  stomachache and constipation
• Aside-
• My grandmother had leprosy all her life and my
  mother told me that she used this plant and it
  kept the leprosy until her final years, even then
  the leprosy never progressed past her one foot.
  Method of administration same as from book (in a
  water bath)

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CasavvaManihot esculenta

• Euphorbiaceae subfam. Crotonoideae
• Starchy tuberous root is a major source of
  carbohydrates
• Grow wild but his highly cultivated for food

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Left WildRight- Cultivated
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• Leaves naturally contain small amounts of cyanide
  to deter animals and bugs
• Used for centuries to keep mosquitoes at bay
  while sleeping
• Leaves put into a pan of water by bed, if
  mosquitoes are not deterred they will be
  attracted to water and die in pan
• Dr. Fatimah Jackson (Applied Biological
  Anthropology) of the University of Maryland made
  an extract from leaves that is used to kill
  mosquito larva after heavy rain falls
• Extract put into water pools, within 8 hrs all
  larva are dead due to cyanide, within 24 hrs all
  cyanide is evapourated.

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OjuokEuphorbia tirucalii

• Euphorbiaceae
• shrub or tree up to 6 m
• Branchlets green, succulent, leafless except when
  young

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• When young branches are roasted and chewed.
  Juices act as a remedy for sore throat
• Aside
• When you snap branch in half a thick white stick
  liquid is released. This was applied to the face
  to get ride of pimples. It was also used to seal
  envelopes.

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AgwataLagenaria vulgaris

• Cucurbitaceae
• Climbing herb
• Fruits are variable shapes and sizes
• Fruits used as utensils and receptacles

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• Arumbe Acacia hockii
• Bark decoctions drunk for womens gynecological
  problems and for gastrointestinal problems roots
  and leaves mixed with other plants to treat
  cough pounded leaves and buds used to treat
  abscess whitlow, koko, and woyo (a disease
  weakening children when they are beginning to
  walk
• Kurgweno Clerodendrum myricoides
• Roots decoction used to treat mental illness,
  sterility in women, introduced into anus to treat
  amoebic dysentery and other forms of diarrhoea,
  infusion of leaves drunk or bathed in to treat
  chira (a wasting disease, traditionally inflicted
  upon those who break Luo Taboos, in current times
  AIDS is a disease that is given this derm

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References

• Kokwaro, John O., Johns, Timothy. Luo Biological
  Dictionary. East African Educational Publishers.
  Nairobi 1998.
• Video clip African Plant Explorer Fatimah
  Jackson Canadian Learning Company, Woodstock ON.