Diversity and use of plant collections of the Lagos University Herbarium, Nigeria

Abstract

This study aimed to gain insights into the diversity and use of the collections of the Lagos University Herbarium (LUH), Nigeria. A total of 1509 species representing 188 plant families in 57 plant orders were recorded. This comprises dicotyledons (1260); monocotyledons (217); ferns (29); moss (1); conifers (1); and macro algae (1). About 1007 species of the collection are indigenous while 502 are exotic species. Herbaceous life form is the most abundant, representing 38% of the species recorded. Also, 1380 (91.4%) of the species have a recorded use while 129 (8.6%) had no known use in literature. A total of 1994 uses were recorded and distributed across 8 use categories. Of these, 52.9% are single use, 24.1% are dual use, and 23.0% have multiple uses. Plants used for medicine had the highest frequency (52.6%), followed by materials (13.8%), food plants (10.8%), environmental uses (7.3%), social uses (5.7%), animal feed (5.0%), fuel (3.0%), and poison (1.8%). The Fabaceae family had the highest use record followed by Rubiaceae, Poaceae, Malvaceae, and Euphorbiaceae. The diversity of use of species recorded in this study provides information for biodiversity research, resource planning, and sustainable usage of species.