Cultural importance, availability, and conservation status of cosmetic plants in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa: implications for sustainability

Medicinal plants have been used as sources of cosmetic and personal products since time immemorial. In this study, plant species used as cosmetics in the Eastern Cape Province and associated traditional ecological knowledge, their availability, and strategies needed to conserve the species were documented. Seventy-nine participants from six villages selected using purposive and snowball sampling were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires and complemented with focus group discussions and participant observations. Ethnobotanical data, including local names of the plant species, cosmetic applications and plant parts used were documented. The ethnomedicinal data were analyzed using cultural importance index (CI), fidelity levels (FL), informant consensus factor (ICF), relative frequency of citation (RFC), use-value (UV) index and each documented species was searched on the Red List of South African Plants database to determine its conservation status or category. Thirty-six species of medicinal plants were used as traditional cosmetics in the study area. Herbs (39%) and trees (31%) were the primary sources of cosmetics. Leaves were the most frequently used plant parts (27.5%), followed by roots (17.9%), bark, and bulbs (16.7% each). Five species are categorized as Vulnerable, three as Endangered, and eight species as Declining in population numbers and Near Threatened. Documented species are threatened by over-exploitation or over-harvesting for traditional medicine and are also sold in informal herbal medicine markets. There is evidence indicating a rapid decline of plant species used as cosmetics in the Eastern Cape Province and, therefore, they are at risk of extinction. Results of this study suggest that current and future conservation efforts should ensure the sustainable harvesting of plant species used in traditional medicine.