February 24, 2026 - Rooibos: Known globally as an antioxidant-rich, caffeine-free herbal tea, Rooibos has been traditionally used to calm fussy babies, and research suggests it may provide protective benefits and support bronchial, immune, cognitive, and cell function. Tamarind: The bark and leaves of Tamarind have been traditionally used to support skin health, as a laxative (the fruit), and to support normal bowel function. This is not an extensive list of all traditional plants and herbs used in Traditional African Medicine.

January 26, 2026 - According to Sade Muse of Roots of Resistance, African American herbalism is a rich melange of many cultural traditions with deep origins rooted in African history dating back to ancient Egypt.

February 2, 2026 - Many new or modified herbal traditions arose within Black communities in North America. These traditions were most celebrated, documented, and depended upon in the Southeast, where slavery was most concentrated. Typical elements included a combination of African, European, and Indigenous healing ...

January 14, 2025 - Traditional Use: African Ginger is a plant revered in numerous African cultures for its multifaceted healing properties. Historically, it was used to combat fever, flu, and even rheumatism.

January 9, 2025 - African herbal medicine focuses on how the African people were able to relay the uses of plants in a way in which they could understand. It is how they attuned the physical characteristics and attributes of the plant to the physical and ...

Herbalism practices and plants often cross cultures and traditions. Some of the plants used in Western herbalism entered our knowledge base via Africa, both during ancient times and, undeniably, during slave trade and colonialism. In honor of Black History Month, we’re taking a closer look ...

February 2, 2026 - The herbal traditions there span thousands of years and are exemplified in the 3,500-year-old Ebers Papyrus which contains hundreds of herbal remedies.1 The traditions of this area went on to influence famous and foundational Greek and Roman ...

April 1, 2025 - Traditionally, folk herbal knowledge is transferred orally after initiation into healing societies. However, this knowledge is increasingly being preserved in books. For example, the Libonar konfen (Book of Medicines) is a treatise on the medicinal plants of the Bamoum people of Cameroon. It was compiled in 1915 by Sultan Njoya in “shümom”, the Bamoum script. ... On the African continent, folk and allopathic medical practice have an uneasy relationship, owing mainly to fundamental differences in the foundations of each practice.

January 28, 2026 - In many African cultures, healing ... body, soul, and nature. One of the oldest records of herbal use in Africa is the Ebers Papyrus (1500 BCE), which mentions species like aloe and myrrh....

3 weeks ago - Practitioners of traditional African medicine claim to be able to cure a variety of diverse conditions including cancer, psychiatric disorders, high blood pressure, cholera, most venereal diseases, epilepsy, asthma, eczema, fever, anxiety, depression, benign prostatic hyperplasia, urinary tract infections, gout, and healing of wounds and burns and Ebola. Diagnosis is reached through spiritual means and a treatment is prescribed, usually consisting of a herbal ...

September 4, 2025 - For centuries, African healers (often referred to as herbalists or traditional healers) have developed an in-depth knowledge of the therapeutic properties of plants [22]. Depending on their tribe, herbalists are known by their local names in ...

January 30, 2019 - African traditional medicine is a form of holistic health care system organized into three levels of specialty, namely divination, spiritualism, and herbalism. The traditional healer provides health care services based on culture, religious background, knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs that are prevalent in his community.

Before the event of colonialism, Africa was a continent where the "witch doctors" and "herbalist healers" taken care of all ailments, real or not. Even now in the 21st Century, African witch doctors are still found all-over Africa. Superstitions, cannibalism and the use of human parts in African witchcraft, are still practiced in many African countries.

January 4, 2026 - Found across tropical Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, and West Africa Known as the sausage tree because of its large hanging fruits, Kigelia africana holds a significant place in African herbal traditions. The fruit, bark, and leaves have long been associated with skin wellness and restoration.

Traditional African religions relied on animism, veneration of dead ancestors, and other spiritual practices, and these practices were woven into medical treatment as well. There was not much demarcation, if any, between curing an illness and practicing religion. In the nineteenth century when Europe began its conquest of Africa, some aspects of traditional medicine were made illegal, and controls on herbal medicine attempted to be implemented.

April 25, 2026 - Gus Le Breton shares six African medicinal herbs, including their actions, traditional use and their herbal industry.

February 26, 2024 - So they used old wisdom about plants and traditions from Africa to stay healthy. They made medicine with plants from the forest, and it helped them survive tough times. Africans knew a lot about using plants and natural remedies from their homelands.

November 10, 2022 - Indian culture preserved the tradition of Ayurvedic remedies for almost six millennia, it is claimed, making it the oldest continuous medical tradition on the planet. But this is where most of the historical accounts of herbal lore stop. American (North and South), African and Australian herbal lore – which had been passed orally from generation to generation – was severely impacted on by colonisation.

April 16, 2026 - In TAM, the role of the herbalist is to be a knowledge keeper; to remember the plants of the land, the culture that inherited it, support community, embrace emerging clinical evidence, preserve indigenous wisdom, and much of the time position oneself as an activist on behalf of the land and the people. In Africa, TAM has shifted across the timeline of healthcare, from pre- to post-colonialism through to the current era of urbanisation. Today, traditional African medicine can be defined as the sacred practice of African traditions of medicine that have existed for thousands of years, based on a holistic system founded on African culture and spiritual beliefs.

June 16, 2023 - Doctor Caesar, an enslaved man living in South Carolina in the 18th century, is considered the first Black person to have their medical findings appear in print. He was known for making herbal remedies for poison using narrowleaf plantain and ...