Ethnobotanique et structure des peuplements d’espèces de brosse végétale au Sud et au Centre du Bénin

Plant toothbrush, wrongly named toothpick, is a shrub species that is considered as a secondary
forest product that thrive in natural stands (savannas and forest). A structural description of the stands
mainly composed of these species was done through a forest inventory of 19 square plots of 50 m of
side. Data collected within plots were the diameter of each individual and the number of the species
that were used to compute dendrometric and ecological parameters. Moreover, an ethnobotanical
survey was conducted in some districts of South and Centre of Benin as Cotonou, Porto-Novo, Comè,
Abomey, Savè and Dassa through interviews of 105 people randomly selected. Data collected were
related to their perception on the patterns of use of Plant toothbrush species. The results obtained
showed that the density of the Plant toothbrush was significantly higher in savannas than in forest; the
species richness was higher in tree-savannah and forest than in shrub-savannah. These two
parameters presented low values in high anthropic pressure stands. The other structural parameters
(basal area, Shannon diversity index, mean diameter) had almost the same value in savannas and
forest. Moreover, all the socio-cultural groups considered in the study use the plant toothbrush, the
major retailers being the Nago and the Fon.

Source de publication: Bulletin de la Recherche Agronomique du Bénin Numéro 63 – Mars 2009

Contacts du ou des auteurs: Jean Didier Akpona, ajeandidier@gmail.com; Romain Glèlè Kakaï (glele.romain@gmail.com); Hugues Akpona, akpona@gmail.com