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Quantifying the Trade in Cycads (Encephalartos Species) in the Traditional Medicine Markets of Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa1

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Quantifying the Trade in Cycads ( Encephalartos Species) in the Traditional Medicine Markets of Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa. Cycads have been used for traditional purposes for centuries, mainly as a source of starch during droughts and famines. In South Africa, Encephalartos species are traded for traditional medicine (TM) in local TM markets. The 2009 IUCN Red Data assessment for South African flora lists 78% of the 37 indigenous Encephalartos species as “Threatened”, with three species already “Extinct in the Wild” (EW). South African cycads face an extinction crisis, primarily due to collecting for the horticultural trade. The trade in Encephalartos for TM also has a significant impact on several species, and is largely understudied. In this paper, the trade in Encephalartos for TM was quantified in South Africa’s two largest TM markets, Faraday in Johannesburg and Warwick in Durban. Harvesting of South African Encephalartos for TM involves the removal of bark strips and/or whole stem sections. Encephalartos species were sold at 26% and 13% of the stalls at Faraday and Warwick, respectively, with an estimated 9.0 metric tons traded at Warwick in 2009. Stem samples purchased in the markets were assigned to stem diameter size classes using a size class chart, and regression analysis was used to validate the allocations. Most harvesting was from sub-adult and adult cycads, and it appears that bark strips are removed from large arborescent plants, whereas smaller individuals and subterranean-stemmed species are harvested by removing the entire plant. There is generally a positive relationship between stem diameter and leaf base length as well as stem diameter and pith radius. The former can be used as a predictor of stem diameter size class for market samples that prove difficult to assign to diameter classes using the chart. Overall, this is the first study to quantify the trade in Encephalartos for TM in South Africa with reference to the size classes of the plants traded.

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Acknowledgments

The NRF (NRF 2069152) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) are thanked for providing funding. Thanks go to Dr. John Donaldson and Dr. Tony Cunningham for their advice, Luci Coehlo for facilitating the Warwick survey, and Sibongile Buthelezi for translating at Warwick. Brian Bader is thanked for sectioning some of the cycad stems photographed, Robin Csernus and Rachel Mashori for lab assistance, Dean Ricketts and Brigitte Church for valuable correspondence and provision of photographs, and finally Allister Cousins for his assistance in designing the size class chart.

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  1. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Stephen R. Cousins, Vivienne L. Williams & Ed T. F. Witkowski

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  1. Stephen R. Cousins
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  2. Vivienne L. Williams
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  3. Ed T. F. Witkowski
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Correspondence to Vivienne L. Williams.

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Received 29 September 2010; accepted 2 June 2011.

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Cousins, S.R., Williams, V.L. & Witkowski, E.T.F. Quantifying the Trade in Cycads (Encephalartos Species) in the Traditional Medicine Markets of Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa1 . Econ Bot 65, 356–370 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-011-9173-0

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