Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The African continent is naturally endowed with various plant species with nutritional and medicinal benefits.
Extensive research studies have been conducted on the medicinal uses of African plants, however, the therapeutic potentials of some of these plants has remained unexploited. Over the years, several studies have revealed that some of these African floras are promising candidates for the development of novel drugs. Despite the plethora of studies on medicinal plant research in Africa, there is still little scientific data supporting the folkloric claims of these plants.
Besides, safety in the use of folk medicines has been a major public health concern over the year. Therefore, it has become mandatory that relevant authority should take measures in safeguarding the populace on the use of herbal mixtures. Thus, the present review extracted relevant information from different scientific databases and highlighted some problems associated with folk medicines, adverse effects on reproductive systems, issue about safety due to the toxicity of some plants and their toxicity effects with potential therapeutic benefits are discussed.
Keywords: African herbal medicines, adverse effects, toxicity, therapeutic values. The African continent is magnificently endowed with different plant diversity, mainly due of the prevailing climatic conditions and this advantage has supported the richness of secondary metabolites in the plants for surviving under harsh environmental conditions [ 1 , 2 ]. Besides, the ultraviolet rays in this region are stronger than those observed in other parts of the world, and this also enables the plants to accumulate some important bioactive substances of economic importance [ 1 ].
These reasons justify the exploitation of these plants for their therapeutic values that have been in continual use in this region for the past several decades [ 3 , 4 ]. Most villages in Africa still depend solely on traditional herbal mixtures as a source of health treatments because of their beliefs and culturally acceptable indigenous knowledge, accessibility, and affordability.
