The use of plants by local people for health care has long been observed. This practice still persists in different communities. This study presents a bibliographic summary highlighting the knowledge of plants used in traditional pharmacopoeia in Niger. Analysis of the scientific literature, such as articles, dissertations and theses from the Google Scholar and PubMed search engines, as well as grey literature, revealed a number of items of information. A total of 315 medicinal species, including 8 fungi, were identified, divided into 220 genera and 88 families. The Papilionaceae, Poaceae and Caesalpiniaceae, with 30, 18 and 16 species respectively, are the best represented families. Leaves (28.89%) and bark (18.33%) are the most commonly used plant parts. The predominant methods of preparation are decoction (37%), maceration (23%) and powder (13%), while the oral route (44.87%) is the main method of administering plant-based remedies. Recipes are mainly administered 3 times a day (52.34%) and the predominant duration of treatment is one day (26%). Analysis of the scientific data available on medicinal plants in Niger suggests that further research is needed to gain a better understanding of the practices and uses of plants in traditional medicine.

This work was a literature review of the available data on the plant diversity in protected areas in Niger. It was based on several studies carried out in the period from 2005 to 2021 in nine (9) reserves of Niger. It aimed to assess the current state of the floristic diversity and ecosystem services in these protected areas. The results revealed the information on species richness, ecological spectrums and ecosystems services provided to local population living around these protected areas. A total of 648 plants species, mostly herbaceous, and dominated by Poaceae, were recorded. The spectrum of biological types is dominated by Therophytes (43.57%) and Microphanerophytes (19.07%), which are characteristic of Sahelian vegetation. The chorology revealed a predominance of multi-regional African species and species with a wide distribution. The study highlighted six (6) main categories of ecosystem services for local populations: human food, fodder, traditional pharmacopoeia, energy wood, service wood and craft wood. This review showed that the assessment of plant diversity in the protected area of Niger was far from exhaustive, and much remains to be updated.

As in all regions of Niger, the floral resource is subject to various levies by the different communities in the W Park biosphere reserve. To exploit this resource, local populations have developed a body of knowledge and techniques handed down from generation to generation. This knowledge and know-how varies according to the environment, socio-cultural considerations and plant potential of each locality. This study focuses on local people’s knowledge of the flora and techniques for processing harvested products from the Parc du W reserve. These questions are addressed through an inventory of known and used flora resources, the identification of people’s knowledge and know-how in terms of the use of flora resources and harvested products in the Parc du W biosphere reserve, and the processing techniques for harvested products. The results reveal a multiple and multifaceted use of flora in fields as varied as food, traditional pharmacopoeia, cultural practices and domestic use. Gathering appears in the biosphere as a daily practice for these populations and, depending on the context and the type of plant, ensures the survival of the local population.

This work aims to describe the botanical and phytochemical characteristics of Chrozophora brocchiana (Vis.) Schweinf (Euphorbiaceae), a plant used to prepare traditional remedies for the treatment of diarrhea in children.The methodology is based on a macroscopic description of the fresh drug followed by a microscopic description, the estimate of the water content and total ash content in the dry drug, and then the characterization reactions of the large chemical groups in the water extract obtained from the sprayed dry drug.C. brocchiana is a perennial perennial herbaceous plant, greyish green and whitish in colour during the dry season when hairs are longer and denser. The powder of the dry drug is cottony to the touch, with no flavor or smell characteristic of fresh butter color, code #FFF48D. The conductive beams of the leaf at the main rib are arranged in an arc next to a massif. The limb has a bifacial heterogeneous mesophile. The epidermis has many tecting hairs, usually starry or dendritic, longer and denser during the dry season a mark of adaptation of this plant to drought. The wooden vessels are in radial lines interspersed with woody parenchyme. Micrography highlights isolated or grouped single-celled tctory hairs, rounded to oval starch grains, and calcium oxalate crystals. The dry drug C. brocchiana can be stored without risk of degradation by the development of microorganisms (humidity rate: 9.1-0.75%). The drug is not rich in minerals (total ash rate: 9.67-0.76%) but contains a high amount of silica (insoluble ash levels in hydrochloric acid: 3.2-0.1%). The groups of secondary metabolites identified in the sample that could justify the use as an antidiarrheal of C. brocchiana are tannins by their astringent and antiseptic properties, the dares having the ability to retain large amounts of water.Further botanical, phytochemistry and pharmacological activity studies would be needed to explain the traditional use of C. brocchiana as an antidiarrheal in children.