Plants Used in Antivenom Therapy in Rural Kenya: Ethnobotany and Future Perspectives

Table 1

Antivenin plants used across Kenyan communities.

Plant family	Botanical name	Local name	Part used	Growth habit	Mode of preparation/administration	Authors
Acanthaceae	Justicia betonica L.	Shikuduli	Leaves	Herb	Infusion drunk	[37]
	Justicia calyculata (Deflers.) T. Anders	Apiwo, piu piu (Luo)	Aerial parts	Herb	Crushed and rubbed on the bite to facilitate removal of the “snake’s fangs”	[14, 34]
Amaryllidaceae	Allium cepa L.	Kitunguu (Kamba)	Leaves, roots	Herb	Pounded and sap applied	[14]
	Ammocharis tinneana (Kotschy & Peyr.) Milne-Redh	Apap thwon pap, rabwond otenga (Luo)	Roots	Herb	Sap used in preparation of an alexiteric	[14, 34]
Annonaceae	Annona senegalensis Pers. sp. senegalensis	Obolo, obolobolo (Luo)	Leaves	Tree	Crushed and rubbed on the bite. Some may be chewed, and the juice swallowed	[14, 34]
	Uvariodendron anisatum Verdc.	Ndonga	Whole plant, leaves	Shrub	Ashes applied to the bite, also used for scorpion bites	[38, 39]
	Uvaria scheffleri Diels	Mukukuma (Kamba)	Root, leaves	Shrub	Dried in the sun, pounded, and powder applied	[14]
Apiaceae	Steganotaenia araliacea Hochst.	Muvuavui, kivuavui (Kamba)	Roots	Shrub	Burnt into charcoal, crushed into powder, and applied on the bite	[14, 40]
Apocynaceae	Carissa spinarum L.	Mukawa (Kamba)	Leaves	Shrub	Used for treatment and has snake repellent activity	[41]
	Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don	Olubinu	Leaves	Herb	Infusion drunk	[37]
Asparagaceae	Sansevieria kirkii Baker	No local name given	Leaves	Herb	Sap applied on the bite wound	[40]
	Sansevieria parva N.E.Br.	Twoch bungu (Luo)	Leaves	Herb	Sap applied on the bite wound	[14, 34]
Asteraceae	Bidens pilosa L.	Nyanyiek mon, onyiego (Luo)	Leaves	Herb	Crushed and rubbed on fresh cuts as an astringent, snake bite antidote, and antiseptic	[14, 34]
	Conyza sumatrensis (Retz.) E. Walker	Yadh asere, yadh tong’ (Luo)	Leaves	Herb	Infusion drunk for puff adder bites	[14, 34]
	Solanecio mannii (Hook. f) C. Jeffrey	Maroo, marowo (Luo), livokho	Leaves	Shrub	Crushed or chewed leaves rubbed onto the bite	[14, 34, 37]
	Tagetes minuta L.	Muvangi (Kamba)	Leaves	Herb	Crushed, soaked in water, & infusion applied on bite	[14]
	Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray.	Maua madongo, akech (Luo), mula (Kamba)	Leaves	Shrub	Infusion administered orally	[14, 34]
	Vernonia glabra (Steez) Vatke	Olusia (Luo)	Leaves	Herb	Leaf ash or crushed leaves rubbed onto scarifications around the bite	[14, 34]
Bignoniaceae	Markhamia lutea (Benth.) K. Schum	Lusiola, shisimbali	Leaves	Tree	Fresh leaf infusion drunk and used for cleaning snake bite wounds	[37]
Burseraceae	Commiphora africana (A. Rich.) Endl.	Osilalei	Bark	Tree	Chewed	[42]
Combretaceae	Combretum collinum Fresen	Adugo (Luo)	Roots	Tree	For treatments effected by scarification	[14, 34, 40]
	Combretum molle G. Don	Muama, kiama (Kamba)	Bark, roots	Tree	Infusion drunk; 2 glasses two times a day	[14]
	Combretum padoides Engl. & Diels	No local name given	Leaves	Tree	Crushed leaves are applied on the bite	[43]
Convolvulaceae	Dichondra repens J.R. Forst. & G. Forst.	No Luo name given	Leaves	Herb	Rubbed on bite to “remove snake fangs”	[14, 34]
Ebenaceae	Euclea divinorum Hiern	Uswet (Markweta)	Bark	Tree	Crushed & applied on incision made on the bite area. Sometimes used with of Gardenia volkensii and Plectranthus barbatus.	[44–46]
Euphorbiaceae	Tragia brevipes Pax.	Kimelei ne mining (Markweta)	Roots	Shrub	Crushed and applied on incisions made on the bitten area	[44, 46]
Fabaceae	Entada leptostachya Harms	Mwaitha (Kamba)	Stem	Tree	Stem crushed, sap squeezed out, and applied on the bite	[14]
	Erythrina excelsa Baker	Roko, yuoma (Luo)	Bark	Tree	Sap is used as an antidote	[14, 34]
	Erythrina abyssinica	Omutembe (Kuria), muhuti (Kikuyu)	Bark	Tree	Sap is used as an antidote	[40]
	Indigofera circinella Baker f.	Odolo (Luo)	Leaves	Herb	Poultice chewed and pasted on the bite	[14, 34]
	Senna siamea (Lam.) Irwin et Barnaby	Ndege owinu, oyieko (Luo)	Roots	Tree	Used with Zanthoxylum chalybeum Engl. roots	[14]
Lamiaceae	Fuerstia africana T.C.E. Fr.	Abunga-useke, aremo (Luo)	Leaves	Herb	Crushed and filtered infusion drank	[14, 34, 47]
	Hyptis pectinata (L.) Poit	Not specified	Leaves	Herb	Infusion with Corchorus trilocularis L. is dropped or sprinkled into the eye to neutralize venom ejected into it by black-necked spitting cobra. After, the victim is scarified on the hind torso. Claims of intense pain, temporary blindness, and watery eyes were linked to this type of envenomation.	[14]
	Plectranthus barbatus Andrews	Kan’gurwet (Markweta)	Leaves	Herb	Mixed with those of Gardenia volkensii and Euclea divinorum. The powder mixture is then applied on incisions made on the bitten area.	[46]
Malvaceae	Corchorus trilocularis L.	Apoth (Luo)	Leaves	Herb	Infusion with Hyptis pectinata is dropped or sprinkled into the eye to neutralize snake venom ejected into the human eye	[14, 34]
	Grewia bicolor Juss.	Esiteti (Massai), mulawa (Kamba)	Roots	Shrub	Infusion drunk	[40, 42]
	Grewia damine Gaertn.	Ositeti	Bark, branch, fruits, roots, stem	Shrub	Not specified	[48]
	Grewia fallax K. Schum.	Powo (Luo), ilawa (Kamba)	Leaves, bark	Shrub	Used in cooking envenomed carcass to prevent secondary poisoning. Bitten livestock are drenched with a decoction. Mucilaginous crushed leaves used to wipe the bitten area.	[14, 34, 40]
	Grewia truncate Mast.	Not given	Leaves	Shrub	Not specified	[40]
	Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq.	Muinda nguue (Kamba)	Roots	Herb	Crushed, aqueous infusion applied on bite area	[14]
Musaceae	Ensete edule (J. F. Gmel.) Horan	Kitembe (Luo)	Stem	Herb	Fresh stem sap is wiped onto the bite	[14, 34]
Myricaceae	Maesa lanceolata Forssk.	Katera (Luo)	Roots	Tree	Decoction administered as follow-up treatment for puff adder bites	[14, 34]
Opiliaceae	Opilia amentacea Roxb.	Mutonga (Kamba)	Roots	Climber	Roots burnt into charcoal, crushed into powder, mixed with crushed snake teeth, and applied to the bite	[14]
Phytolaccaceae	Phytolacca dodecandra L. Hiern	Kupsogotit	Leaves, fruits	Shrub	Burnt, chewed	[45]
Polygalaceae	Securidaca longepedunculata		Not specified	Shrub	Not specified	[49]
Pteridaceae	Pellaea viridis (Forssk.) Prantl.	No Luo name given	Leaves	Herb	Pulped and rubbed on the bite	[14, 34]
Rhamnaceae	Ziziphus mucronata Willd.	Oloilalei	Roots	Shrub	Infusion drunk	[42]
Rubiaceae	Gardenia volkensii	Mogilio (Markweta)	Leaves	Tree	Mixed with those of Plectranthus barbatus and Euclea divinorum. The powder mixture is then applied on incisions made on the bitten area.	[46]
	Hymenodictyon parvifolium	Mulinditi	Leaves	Shrub	Crushed and infusion drunk	[50]
Rutaceae	Toddalia asiatica (L) Lam.	Mururue (kikuyu)	Root bark	Liana	Infusion	[40]
	Zanthoxylum chalybeum Engl.	Oloisuki (massai)	Roots	Tree	Used with the roots of Senna siamea (Lam.) Irwin et Barnaby	[14]
Solanaceae	Solanum incanum L.	Mutongu (Kamba)	Leaves, stem, fruit	Shrub	Leaves chewed and applied at the bite. Stem/fruits sliced, sun dried, pounded, and powder applied. The sap of the fruits may also be directly applied.	[14, 40, 42]
	Solanum micranthum Schltdl.	Sigowet	Root, fruit	Shrub	Treats snake, cat, or dog bite. Burnt or boiled and infusion taken	[45]
Velloziaceae	Xerophyta spekei Baker	Kianduri	Whole plant	Shrub	Ashes applied to the bite	[38]

Decoction: water extraction by boiling of plant material; infusion: the plant material is added to hot water, steeped for few minutes, and taken as tea.