Traditional Uses of the African Millettia species (Fabaceae)

This study aimed to constitute a complete and cross-checked listing of the medicinal African Millettia species and of their uses. Indeed, the genus Millettia has an important place in the pharmacopoeias of sub-Saharan Africa, with numerous therapeutic indications, such as antitumoral, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, bactericidal, insecticidal and pest-destroying. The multiplicity of these activities, well known in traditional medicine, is being confirmed by pharmacological studies in laboratory and confers on this genus an interest as great in traditional medicine as in phytochemical research of active compounds. In this study, we begin by giving the distribution by country of the 139 African Millettia and presenting the threatened species, to continue with an overall presentation of all the traditional uses we could gather for the 51 medicinal African Millettia. The desire of the CERMA is to make this information available for the traditional practitioners and all the persons involved in the valorization of the traditional therapeutic know-how.