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Cette étude analyse les stratégies locales de dénomination des espèces végétales par les Mossé des régions du nord, du centre nord, du centre et du Plateau Central du Burkina Faso et leurs perceptions des plantes. A travers des interviews semi directes auprès de 1437 personnes âgées d’au moins 60 ans et des jeunes de moins de 40 ans des différentes localités, l’étude a pu montrer les critères de dénomination, les conceptions que les populations ont des espèces végétales ainsi que l‘impact de ces connaissances dans la conservation de la phytodiversité. 72 espèces au total ont été décrites. Elles sont réparties en 51 genres et 29 familles. Les familles dominantes sont les Commelinaceae et les Fabaceae-Mimosoideae. Dans la taxonomie locale faite sur les plantes en milieu rural Mossé, 16 critères sont utilisés. Les critères les plus cités par la population sont l’usage fait de la plante (94 %), le mysticisme lié à l’espèce (86 %), l’écologie ou le milieu de vie de l’espèce (83 %), la dualité mâle/femelle (83 %), la couleur des organes ou parties de la plante (81 %), l’origine de la plante (80 %), la morphologie foliaire (76 %), la présence d’organes saillants sur la plante (75 %) et le mode de dissémination des fruits ou des graines (74 %). Les noms botaniques attribués aux plantes varient d’une région à une autre. Les populations ont des perceptions vis-à-vis de nombreuses espèces. Ainsi, les espèces comme Stereospermum kunthianum, Calotropis procera, Ozoroa insignis, Faidherbia albida, Maytenus senegalensis et Biophytum umbraculum sont frappées de mysticisme. Elles sont toutes craintes par les populations et sont dans certaines localités à l’abri d’exploitations multiformes humaines. Cela contribue à une meilleure conservation de la biodiversité.
It is common knowledge that plants have been the world-wide most important source of medicines and that they still play this role in developing countries. However, up to now, complete lists of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) exist for comparatively few countries. A review of all lists know to the authors reveals the following results: A total of 20.7 % of the plant species analyzed by either publications or own research are or were used as MAP. However, regarding single countries, the differences are considerably high. Absolutely leading the list are China (36.2 %), Burkina Faso (35.2 %) and the Korean Republic (34.5 %). Also ahead of other countries or regions are the North of Benin (32.8 %) and the entire Pakistan (30.3 %). Still above average rank Great Britain (26.7 %) and Nepal (23.3 %), while the figures for Bul¬garia (21.0 %), Germany (20.2 %) and France (19.4 %) almost represent the average. Jordan (17.3 %), Vietnam (17.1 %), Sri Lanka (16.6 %), India (16.1 %) and Thailand (15.5 %) rank slightly beneath. Clearly below the average are the percentages of MAP for Hungary (12.2 %) and the USA (11.8 %). The average numbers of MAP in the Philippines (9.5 %) and Malaysia (7.7 %) fall far behind. Calculated on a worldwide scale, every fifth plant can be regarded as MAP. This number matches that from Bulgaria, France and Germany. In northern Benin, Burkina Faso, Korea, China and Pakistan, however, every third plant is or was used as MAP, whereas in Hungary and the USA only every eighth plant can be regarded as MAP. This number drops even further for the Philippines ore Malaysia where only every tenth or thirteenth plant can be attributed to medicinal or aromatic use. These differences might be due to various factors. A geographical component of the results is obvious: in most cases geographically close countries show similar percentages. A correlation between the total number of species and the fraction of those used as MAP cannot be confirmed. The countries with percentage of MAP > 30 % in common show that they belong either entirely (Burkina Faso, Benin) or at least in their rural areas to the poorest countries of the world so that it is (was) impossible for the majority of the people to buy "modern" MAP. In those countries the number of traditional healers outnumbers largely the number of modern doctors. Therefore, the tradition of folk medicine was maintained until today. Additionally, China, Korea and partially Pakistan have a very old and well documented tradition of folk medicine. Due to this documentation even in areas where today "modern MAP" are used, the knowledge was not lost. In neighboring countries or regions, which differ with respect to a more arid or a more humid climate, for the arid country (region) more MAPs are reported than for the humid one. The potential reasons for this phenomenon are discussed in the paper. For many countries the percentage given for MAP in literature is too low. But even these low values represent a striking argument for the importance of a world-wide conservation of biodiversity.