Research Article An Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Knowledge and Uses of Medicinal Wild Plants among the Marakwet Community in Kenya Bernard K. Wanjohi , 1 Vincent Sudoi, 2 Elizabeth W. Njenga, 3 and Wilson K. Kipkore 4 1 Department of Wildlife Management, University of Eldoret, P.O. Box 1125-30100, Eldoret, Kenya 2 School of Environmental Studies, Department of Environmental Biology, University of Eldoret, P.O. Box 1125-30100, Eldoret, Kenya 3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Eldoret, P.O. Box 1125-30100, Eldoret, Kenya 4 Department of Forestry and Wood Sciences, University of Eldoret, P.O. Box 1125-30100, Eldoret, Kenya CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoBernardK.Wanjohi;wanjohibk@yahoo.com Received 15 November 2019; Revised 15 January 2020; Accepted 10 February 2020; Published 30 March 2020 AcademicEditor:VictorKuete Copyright©2020BernardK.Wanjohietal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. TraditionalplantknowledgeandusesofmedicinalwildplantswereinvestigatedamongtheMarakwetcommunityinKenya.Data were collected through interviews with seven traditional healers and 157 questionnaires for local community members. Tra- ditionalnamesoftheplantsbytraditionalhealersandlocalcommunitymemberswerepreparedasachecklist.Lossoftraditional medicinal names of plants was ascertained with up to 60% overlapping in their nomenclature. e traditional medicinal plants treated 41 diseases within the region, of which local community members understood common ones for treating stomachache (94.8%),diarrhea(70.7%),chestproblems(65.5%),andtyphoid(63.8%).Itwasalsoclearthattherewaslowknowledgeindexof medicinalplantsbythelocalcommunitymembers(23.6%)basedonknowledgeoftraditionalhealers.Clearly,medicinalplants fortreatmentofmalaria,diabetes,tetanus,andpneumoniawererecognizedbyover40%ofthelocalcommunitymembers,while plantstreatingarteriosclerosis,meningitis,arthritis,trachoma,smallpox,rheumaticfever,andgoutwereknownbylessthan10% of the respondents. Among plants, the use of roots for treatment was known by over 67% of the local community members compared to fruits, bark, bulb, and flowers (<10%). is low traditional medicinal knowledge in a community relies on the traditional medicinal plants, calling for an urgent need to document the information and perpetuate this knowledge from one generationtoanother.iscanbeachievedbycollectingtheinformationanddevelopingadatabaseofmedicinalplantsforfuture research and potential development of new drugs. 1. Introduction e use of indigenous plants in human medicine is well documented[1].Currentknowledgeonmedicinalplantsas a source for relief from illness dates back to the early civ- ilization in China, India, and the Near East [2–5]. Ingre- dients provided by plants have a wide range of medicinal properties [6–9]. Globally, about 60–80% of the people rely onherbalmedicineasforprimaryhealthcareneeds[10–12]. Subsequently,thenumberofplantsbeingrecommendedfor useasherbalmedicineshasincreased[13,14].Inareaswhere thereisperceivedhighcostofmedicalcare,especiallyinAsia and Africa, medicinal plants have gained more recognition [15–18].isstemsfromtheaffordabilityandaccessibilityof traditionalmedicineasasourceoftreatmentintheprimary healthcare system of resource-poor communities [19–21]. erefore, focus on the knowledge of plants used in herbal medicines has been increasing. Itisnowclearthatknowledgeofmedicinalplantsuseas was embedded in indigenous cultures has slowly been eroding with modernization. us, over the years, the de- cline in cultural diversity has witnessed the erosion of hu- man knowledge on medicinal plant species, their distribution, management, and methods of extracting the usefulpropertiesofmedicinalplants[22].Knowledgeofthe use of medicinal plants was derived mainly through Hindawi Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2020, Article ID 3208634, 8 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3208634