ReviewJournal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine2014
Ritual uses of palms in traditional medicine in sub-Saharan Africa: a review.
Review in Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Eco-cultural synergy: exploring the links between native trees, rituals, and conservation in Guji Society, Southern Ethiopia.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2025Article
- Parental traditional medicine use for children and associated factors in Harar City, Harari Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Article
- Prevalence and reasons to seek traditional healing methods among residents of two localities in North Kordofan State, Sudan 2022: A cross-sectional study.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Cultural beliefs, attitudes and perceptions of lactating mothers on exclusive breastfeeding in The Gambia: an ethnographic study.BMC women's health · 2023Article
- Iconic Arable Weeds: The Significance of Corn Poppy (Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Ethnopharmacological Study of Medicinal Plants Used for the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases and Their Associated Risk Factors in sub-Saharan Africa.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Botanical from the Fruits Mesocarp ofEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Article
- Nutritional assessment study and role of green silver nanoparticles in shelf-life of coconut endosperm to develop as functional food.Saudi journal of biological sciences · 2020Article
- Type 2 diabetes induced oxidative brain injury involves altered cerebellar neuronal integrity and elemental distribution, and exacerbated Nrf2 expression: therapeutic potential of raffia palm (Raphia hookeri) wine.Metabolic brain disease · 2019Article
- Aphrodisiac property of aqueous and methanolic extracts ofInternational journal of reproductive biomedicine · 2019Article
- The Cultural Importance of Plants in Western African Religions.Economic botany · 2018Article
- The symbolic efficacy of medicinal plants: practices, knowledge, and religious beliefs amongst the Nalu healers of Guinea-Bissau.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2016Article
- Perception of Subtle Energy "Global advances in integrative medicine and healthReview
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Palms (Arecaceae) are prominent elements in African traditional medicines. It is, however, a challenge to find detailed information on the ritual use of palms, which are an inextricable part of African medicinal and spiritual systems. This work reviews ritual uses of palms within African ethnomedicine. We studied over 200 publications on uses of African palms and found information about ritual uses in 26 of them. At least 12 palm species in sub-Saharan Africa are involved in various ritual practices: Borassus aethiopum, Cocos nucifera, Dypsis canaliculata, D. fibrosa, D. pinnatifrons, Elaeis guineensis, Hyphaene coriacea, H. petersiana, Phoenix reclinata, Raphia farinifera, R. hookeri, and R. vinifera. In some rituals, palms play a central role as sacred objects, for example the seeds accompany oracles and palm leaves are used in offerings. In other cases, palms are added as a support to other powerful ingredients, for example palm oil used as a medium to blend and make coherent the healing mixture. A better understanding of the cultural context of medicinal use of palms is needed in order to obtain a more accurate and complete insight into palm-based traditional medicines.
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