Ethnoveterinary medicines for treating small ruminant ailments in zimbabwean smallholder farming systems

Zimbabwe is a key biodiversity area in sub-Saharan Africa where communities largely rely on medicinal plants for managing livestock health. Knowledge of the plants used, and whether similar uses occur across communities, remains incomplete. This study recorded ethnoveterinary practices relating to small ruminants through semi-structured interviews with 200 informants from four districts in Zimbabwe [ 1 ]. Medicinal plants with high cultural importance and consistent botanical and therapeutic uses were identified, and the degree of similarity in medicinal plant usage between communities was analysed as an indicator of information exchange. A total of 75 medicinal plant species belonging to 35 families was documented. The foremost used medicinal plant species were from the Fabaceae family (13 species). A total of 2,703 use-reports for various diseases were categorized into nine groups and treated using these medicinal plants. Infectious and parasitic diseases received the highest number of citations (34%). Nine plant combinations, primarily consisting of three species with comparable pharmacological properties, were reported for various ailments. Vernonia adoensis and Terminalia sericea were commonly used in these combinations. Aloe vera and Lippia javanica showed the highest botanical and therapeutic consistency, particularly against ectoparasites. Importantly, 28 new endemic medicinal plant species were reported for treatment of nine major ailments. These were mostly used for stomach disorders (8 species). Thus, ethnoveterinary medicine is the mainstay of livestock health management in resource-marginalised farming systems of Zimbabwe. However, urgent attention is warranted to break cycles of secrecy in their use and to conserve culturally important species . Publication History Article published online: 05 March 2026 © 2026. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany