Ethnobotanical study of Acalypha wilkesiana (Euphorbiaceae), a plant used in the treatment of arterial hypertension in Oyem in Northern Gabon

Cardiovascular diseases, in particular arterial hypertension, are one of the causes of mortality and morbidity in the world, the impact of the treatment is very important, for this the poor populations have difficulties and turn to traditional therapists for treat these pathologies using plants. Thus, our investigations on the use of plants, in the form of an ethnobotanical survey, were carried out in the town of Oyem with 50 people questioned, composed of men (84%) and women (16%) with an age varying between 43 and 75 years. At the end of this investigation, 10 plants were inventoried but Acalypha wilkesiana which is the main object because of its high frequency of use will be studied in particular. The species A. wilkesiana is used to treat several conditions, particularly hypertension. Regarding the organs, the leaves are the most used parts of the plant (93%). The treatment is administered in the form of a decoction (54%) and maceration (40%). These results constitute a database for carrying out phytochemical and biological tests in the search for new bioactive antihypertensive molecules in plants. Published by the International Journal of Biomolecules and Biomedicine (IJBB