Development of conservation methods for gunnera perpensa l.: an overexploited medicinal plant in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

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dc.contributor.advisorAfolayan, A Jen
dc.contributor.authorChigor, Chinyere Blessingen
dc.date.accessioned2026-08-12T23:42:01Z
dc.date.available2026-08-12T23:42:01Z
dc.date.issued2014en
dc.description.abstractSouth Africa, many plants which are used in traditional medicines are collected from wild populations. The high demand for trade and use of these medicinal plants place an enormous pressure on their natural populations, especially because they are indiscriminately harvested. The most affected of these plant species are those harvested from their underground parts, among which is Gunnera perpensa L. Gunnera perpensa is of considerable ethnobotanical interest in traditional medicine because of its wide usage. The rhizomes are widely used and indiscriminately collected in large quantities from the wild to meet the ever increasing demand in traditional medicine markets. As a result, this valuable medicinal plant species is being endangered. According to the Red List of South African Plants, the conservation status of G. perpensa has been listed as ‘declining’. The ethnobotanical survey conducted as part of this research confirms the plant species as threatened. It is, therefore, important to develop propagation and conservation strategies for this medicinal plant. Clonal propagation of G. perpensa was conducted using varying lengths of the rhizome (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cm) segments as propagules. While regeneration was possible with all the rhizome lengths, most of the growth parameters were significantly higher in the 5 cm rhizomes than the other rhizome segments. The appropriate planting depth for the rhizomes was also determined and 4 or 5 cm planting depths were found appropriate. No significant difference was observed in the growth parameters amongst the planting depths; nevertheless, 4 cm depth gave higher growth and yield. The results of this study show that regenerating G. perpensa.en
dc.formatpdfen
dc.format225 leavesen
dc.identifier.citationChigor, Chinyere Blessing. 2014en
dc.identifier.othervital:11311en
dc.identifier.otherhttp://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1019832en
dc.identifier.otherGunnera -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.otherMedicinal plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.otherTraditional medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.otherMedical anthropology -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.otherMedical policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/4570
dc.language.isoEnglishen
dc.publisherUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.publisherFaculty of Science & Agricultureen
dc.rightsUniversity of Fort Hareen
dc.subjectGunnera -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.subjectMedicinal plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.subjectTraditional medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.subjectMedical anthropology -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.subjectMedical policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Capeen
dc.titleDevelopment of conservation methods for gunnera perpensa l.: an overexploited medicinal plant in the Eastern Cape, South Africaen
dc.title.alternativeDevelopment of conservation methods for gunnera perpensa l.: an overexploited medicinal plant in the Eastern Cape, South Africaen
dc.typeThesisen
dc.typeDoctoralen
dc.typePhD (Botany)en

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