ETHNOBOTANICAL SURVEY OF SPICES AND CONDIMENTS USED BY THE UKWUANI PEOPLE OF DELTA STATE

ABSTRACT

Spices and condiments are products of plants, which are mostly used for seasoning, flavouring and thus enhancing the taste of foods, beaverages and drugs. The knowledge and use of plants as spices and condiments is as old as the history of mankind. In the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, many of the spices and condiments are collected from the wild and these spices and their herbs are used generally to prepare “pepper soups” which may be taken hot or cold especially during the cold, rainy seasons. Data on ethnobotanical knowledge of spices and condiments used by the Ukwani people of Delta State, Nigeria were obtained during survey. 20 of the 20 questionnaire administered were returned. Data were obtained mainly from primary sources using structured questionnaires and interview schedules. The response to the semi-structured questionnaires and interview sections were documented and analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics using SPSS version 20 and Microsoft Excel Statistical Package.A total of twenty two (22) plant materials comprising of fourteen (14) families used as spices were recorded to include Amaryllidaceae (1), Annonaceae (2), Apocynaceae (1), Asteraceae (1), Chrysobalanaceae (2), Euphorbiaceae (1), Fabaceae (4), Gnetaceae (1), Lamiaceae (2), Myristicaceae (1), Piperaceae (1), Rutaceae (1), Solanaceae (1) and Zingiberaceae (3). The plants encountered reviewed various life forms of which trees and shrubs had the highest occurring spices with eight (8) plants while herbs had six (6) plants and climber was least with one (1) plant. Seeds comprised of fourteen (14) species while leaves spices accounted for five (5) plants. Rhizomes spices encountered accounted for two (2) plants while those plants whose stem are used as spices recorded a single plant species. The result of this study shows that the Ukwani people of Delta State are blessed with numerous plant spices which are essential in food preparation and preservation due to the fact that majority of these spices are cheap and easily affordable.