FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

LIFE SCIENCES MENTION

Laboratory of Systematic Botany and Plant Ecology

Thesis presented and defended publicly with a view to obtaining the Degree of Doctor of Science

By

Lemmy LASSA KANDA Graduate of Advanced Studies in Biology

Prof. Dr. Ir. Félicien LUKOKI LUYEYE, Promoter, Professor Emeritus, UNIKIN (Member)

Prof. Dr.lr.'Apollinaire BILOSO MOYENE, Co-Promoter

2023

SUMMARY

This study was conducted in two sectors (Benga and Lubisi) and the city of Kimvula in the Kimvula Territory. Its aim is to promote endogenous knowledge and know-how on plants with a view to sustainable exploitation of said resources.

To do this, an ethnobotanical survey on the use of useful plants was carried out in 19 villages and 6 districts through direct and collective interviews with 377 informants, aged between 20 and 87 years.

The results of these surveys made it possible to establish a floristic list of 353 species belonging to 248 genera, 90 families, 35 orders, 12 clades and 4 phyla. The most predominant family in this flora is the Fabaceae (39 species).

This flora is composed mainly of woody plants (68,84%); mainly Phanerophytes (57,22%), Mesophylls (61, 19%) and Zoochores (57,51 %), generally cultivated plants (29,46%) and belonging to the Guinean-Congolese element (27,48%).
Generally, the responses collected from the population do not reveal a broad consensus on the use of plants in six clearly identified categories of use. Consensus is weak everywhere.

Regarding the response rate for average citation frequencies and fidelity levels, Manihot esculenta leaves are cited as the most frequently used. Fidelity levels are greater than or equal to 50%, but 70 plant species, although frequently cited, have fidelity levels lower than 50%.

For the relative vulnerability of plant species, a total of 162 species have a vulnerability index greater than or equal to 2 and are therefore considered vulnerable. Among these 162 species, 50 are very vulnerable (IVi 2: 2.5); and 191 species appear to be slightly vulnerable.

In the Kimvula territory, the species with a high potential for ethnobotanical use are respectively Hallea stipulosa (VU = 7.96), Millettia laurentii (VU = 6.68), Milicia excelsa (VU = 5.96), Xylopia aethiopica (VU = 4.97), Alstonia congensis (VU = 3.39), Harungana madagascariensis (VU = 3.36), Manihot esculenta (VU= 3.11).

By combining the VUs and ICs indices on all plant species (353) used for food, crafts, construction, packaging, medicinal and other purposes in the territory of Kimvula, the species which each have a high VAUs are the species Hallea stipulosa, Mllettia laurentii, Milicia excelsa, Xylopia aethiopica, Manihot esculenta,
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Morinda morindoides, Harungana madagascariensis, Alstonia congensis, Hymenocardia
acida, Mangifera indica, Persea americana, Elaeis guinneensis, Erythrophleum africanum, Ipomoea batatas, Cucumeropsis mannii, Dysphania ambrosioids, Carica papaya and Megaphrynium macrostachyum.
Intra- and inter-village relationships on the use of useful plants show a low similarity (48%) between the first group (Gl) and the second group (G2). The populations of group (G2) are linked to each other with common species, they generally form a single community in the use of useful plants.
The study of medicinal flora revealed a floristic richness of 222 medicinal species divided into 78 families and 81 genera with a predominance of the Fabaceae family (28 species).
The species Morinda morindoides was reported by 327 respondents and is also the most cited plant species with 1005 citations (5,53%).
Among the plants used in the Kimvula territory, shrubs predominate with 24,32% of plants used in traditional medicine. From an ecological point of view, savannah species provide the largest number of medicinal plants (41,44 %).
Concerning the ethnobotanical and pharmacological aspects, the group of medico-magical effects is widely cited with 32 indications (16.41 %), most of the plants are involved in the treatment of anemias (12.71 %), the leaf is the most used organ (57.97%); pounding (42.25%) and decoction (41.82%) are the most used methods of preparation, while oral administration (42.58%) is the most used method for administering traditional drugs.
The medicinal species with high ethnobotanical use value is Morinda morindoides (Vu,0= 2.67).
Medicinal species with high use agreement value are Morinda morindoides, Disphania ambrosioides, Costus phyllocephalus, Pentadiplandra brazzeana, Manihot esculenta, Securidaca longepedunculata, Ocimum gratissimum, Moringa oleifera, Boerrhavia diffusa, Senna occidentalis and Brillantaisia owariensis with values greater than 1.

The species most used by traditional therapists and herbalists in different recipes for the treatment of indications, are in decreasing order of contribution frequencies: Brillantaisia owariensis, Manihot esculenta with each a Cpr of 3.
The search for the degree of consensus reveals that no category has reached the maximum value. The categories that have interesting degrees of consensus are: symptoms, signs and ill-defined morbid conditions and diseases of the blood and hematopoietic organs with respectively (0.98); infectious and parasitic diseases (0.96).

Among all the informants, there are broader levels of consensus respectively in the treatment of indications such as anemia (VCI = 0.66), cough (VCI = 0.40), fever (VCI = 0.38), stomach aches (VCI = 0.38), spleen affection (VCI = 0.31).
The Med,IARs of medicinal plants used in Kimvula territory vary from 0 to 0.99. The medicinal species with the highest Med,IARs is Justicia secunda (0.99) and 43 species had a maximum Med,IARs of 1, this shows that these species treat a particular disease.

The importance value analysis carried out on the use values and the total number of medicinal species indicates that the species Morinda morindoides (VI = 4.53) has a relatively higher importance value than other species.

Regarding the frequency of disease citations, the most frequent conditions in the Kimvula territory are anemias (6,25%).

The analysis of the relative importance index calculated from diseases and disease groups shows that the species Morinda morindoides (100%) has a relatively higher importance index compared to other species.
For food species, a total of 185 food species have been listed.
These species are divided into 28 orders, 57 families and 114 genera. The most represented family is the Fabaceae (17 species).

As for the general characteristics of the food flora, trees (22, 16%), cultivated species (42, 16%) and pantropical species (36, 76%) predominate in number of species.

Generally, leaves and fruits are the most consumed organs with 29,84% and 27,21% of species and with respectively 33,88 % and 21,60% of citations.
Among the categories of food plants, edible fruit plants predominate in number of species (42,23%) and in number of citations with 42,46% citations.
According to the relative knowledge level of informants ranging from 99.73 to 0.27%, the well-known species range from 99.73 to 51.72%. Manihot esculenta which has a knowledge level of 99.73%, is the species which has an important food value among the population of the territory of Kimvula.
Food species with high ethnobotanical use value are Manihot esculenta (Vu,= 1.79), Ipomoea batatas (Vu,= 1.59), Cucumeropsis mannii (Vu,= 1.54) and Dioscorea bulbifera (Vu= 1.03).
The species with a high cultural relevance index value is Mangifera indica (686.04). However, all the values obtained are significantly lower than 5,443.21. Therefore, none of the species has a high cultural importance in the diet of the populations.
The results show that the recorded plants used in construction in the Kimvula territory number 85, divided into 36 families and 78 genera. The family best represented in terms of the number of species is Fabaceae (16 species).
Among the uses of plants used in construction, plants used in the construction of walls predominate in number of species (42,75%) than in number of citations (49,39%).
Overall, stems are the most used parts with 69,88% citations, followed very distantly by leafy stems with 9,77% citations.
The species used in construction with high ethnobotanical use value is Brachystegia spiciformis (View, = 0.98).
The artisanal species inventoried in 19 villages and 6 districts in the territory of Kimvula are a total of 76 species. These species are distributed in 62 genera and 32 families. The largest family is Fabaceae (12 species).
For plants used in crafts, plants used in the manufacture of coffins and doors predominate in number of species (8,85% each).

Among the organs used in crafts, stems are the most used parts with 90,84% citations.
The following artisanal species: Millettia laurentii (Vu,= 5.5l), Hallea stipulosa (Vu,= 5.44), Mlicia excelsa (Vu.= 5.00) have high ethnobotanical use values.
For packaging species, a total of 38 plants are identified and divided into 37 genera and 22 families. The Marantaceae family alone is recruiting (6 species).
Plants used in cassava bread packaging (chikwangues) predominate in number of species (80,85%) than in number of citations with 99,44% citations. In general, the leaves are the most used parts with 83,50% citations.
The species used as packaging with high ethnobotanical use value is Lasimorpha senegalensis (Vu,= 1.03).
For species used for other purposes in the Kimvula territory, the ethnobotanical survey identified 59 plant species belonging to 53 genera and 32 families. The most represented family in terms of the number of species is the Fabaceae.
In the territory of Kimvula, plants used as firewood predominate in number of species (65,06%) than in number of citations (94,41 %).
For various purposes, the local population uses 59 plant species in areas such as energy sources; 99,59% of the plant organs used are stems or trunks and 0.41 % are petioles.
The species used for other purposes with high ethnobotanical use value is Hymenocardia acida (Vu4= 0.95).

Keywords: Useful plants, ethnobotany, uses, Kimvula territory, DR Congo