Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 5(27), pp. 6352-6372, 23 November, 2011 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JMPR ISSN 1996-0875 ©2011 Academic Journals DOI: 10.5897/JMPR10.517 Full Length Research Paper Medicinal Resources of the Miombo woodlands of Urumwa, Tanzania: Plants and its uses Suzana Augustino 1 *, John B. Hall 2 , Fortunatus B. S. Makonda 1 and Romanus C. Ishengoma 1 1 Department of Wond Utilization, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3014 – Chu Kikuu, Morogoro, Tanzania. 2 School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Bangor, Bangor, Gwynedd. LL57 2UW, United Kingdom. Accepted 26 May, 2011 A study was done to document different plants and their use for primary health care by communities around the Miombo woodland of Urumwa, Tanzania. Data collection was based on semi-structured interviews and discussion with key stakeholders. G-tests were carried out to seek differences in ethnobotanical knowledge between women and men. 110 plant species were documented to have 74 medicinal uses. Men were found to be ethnobotanically knowledgeable than women. The ethnobotanical knowledge of medicinal plant resources at Urumwa need to be recognized and preserved to ensure future effectiveness of the primary health care system. Due to the global interest in medicinal plants, there is a need to carry out phytochemical and pharmacological studies for most unstudied but potential documented species to validate usage, find new pharmaceuticals, increase confidence among users and contribute to the developlent of the traditional medicine sector in Tanzania and other areas in Africa within the Miombo ecoregion. Key words: Medicinal plants, ethnobotany, gender, Urumwa, Tanzania. INTRODUCTION Miombo is an informad derm used to describe the floristically rich and widespread indigelous woodlands of central, southern and eastern Africa, largely characterized by the caesalpiniod tree genera Brachystegia, Julbernardia and Isoberlinia (White, 1983). Over 75 million people live within the ecoregion, its resources directly supporting their livelihoods. A further 15 million people in towns and cities through the ecoregion also depend on the woodlands for a variety of products (Bradley and McNamara, 1993; Dewees, 1994) including plants for medicinal purpose. Medicinal plants offer alternative remedies with tremendous opportunities. They not only provide access and affordable medicine to poor people but also generate income and employment for people in the developing countries. In rural communities throughout Africa, medicinal plants constitute a fundamental component of traditional healthcare systems (Garí, 2002), which demonstrates their contribution to the reduction of *Corresponding author. E-mail: sanhemati@yahoo.com. Tel: +255 23 2603694, Fax: +255 23 2604648 excessive mortality and disability due to diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), malaria, tuberculosis, sickle-cell anaemia, diabetes and mental disorders, and reduce poverty by increasing the economic well-being of communities (Elujoba et al., 2005). The ethnobotany of medicinal plants in the Miombo woodlands of western Tanzania has been poorly documented and there is need to record knowledge before traditional specialists abandon their practices or pass away without imparting their knowledge to a younger generation. Studies such as Ruffo (1990) and Katambo (1999) have documented plants used as medicine and indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants in the Miombo woodland of western Tanzania, but are inadequate to signify the importance of these resources in the wider Miombo context. Documentation of medicinal plants is thus still required especially for the western Miombo woodlands of Tanzania which are at increasing risk of habitat loss through anthropogenic activities (Iddi, 2002; Dallu, 2003), threatening the availability of wild plants. Equally, there is a serious problem of traditional medicinal knowledge disappearance in Tanzania (Mahunnah, 1991). In this paper we present an inventory