DISTRIBUTION, ETHNOBOTANY AND CONSERVATION OF ALOES OF MALAWI

Abstract

Aloes, socio-economically important plants in the world, are mostly used for medicines. In Malawi, Aloes are threatened because of loss of habitats due to high population growth rate, poverty, agriculture expansion and unsustainable utilization. This study mapped out occurrences of Aloes in Malawi in order to note widely and rare species and also areas that were rich in Aloes for conservation purposes. Utilization of Aloes was assessed because results would help in poverty alleviation and would also improve medicinal quality of Malawian products. Conservation measures were formulated to ensure continuous supplies for future use. Coordinates for mapping out occurrences of the species were derived from literature, records from herbarium specimens and fieldwork for this study. Distribution maps were produced by means of Geographical Information Systems (GIS), ArcView, 3.2 program. Geographical Position system (GPS) was used to find coordinates and altitudes. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and questionnaires were used to obtain the information on local uses and opinions on conservation. In this study, some species were noted to wide spread, rare and restricted to some areas due to possible reasons such as differences temperature, rainfall, soil types, habitats and capacity of the species to disperse itself. Aloe christianii, Aloe chabaudii and Aloe swynnertonii were widely spread in Malawi while Aloe buchananii, Aloe myriacantha, Aloe canii and Aloe buettneri were rare, and Aloe mzimbana and Aloe menyharthii were restricted to some areas.This study noted that Rumphi, Mzimba, Dedza, Zomba and Mulanje were the districts that were rich in Aloes in Malawi. Most Aloe species grow between 500 and 2000 m, and Aloe christianii had the widest range of altitudes, from 400 m to 2395 m. These results and habitats would help in cultivation for good growth of the plants. Ethnobotany results revealed that Aloes were used in different ways locally; medicines, cosmetics, charms as well as in domesticated animals. Therefore, this study formulated conservation measures as in-situ, ex-situ conservation and suggested designating Aloes as one of the protected species of Malawi to ensure continuous supplies of Aloes in Malawi.