Identification

• Accepted name: Justicia nyassana Lindau, Acanthaceae. Published in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik 20: 66 (1894).
• Synonym: Justicia ulugurica Lindau (1895).
• Kirundi: ikinga. No French, English or Swahili name attested in the sources consulted.
• Epithet: from Nyasaland, now Malawi, country of the type specimen.

Recognising and locating it

A perennial herb with erect, ascending or scrambling stems, up to 100 cm. Leaves opposite, narrowly ovate or elliptic, 1 to 7 cm, with greyish pubescence. Flowers in dense terminal spikes; corolla two-lipped, pale mauve to pink, marked with purple lines on the lower lip.

Paths, clearings, forest edges and damp places in wooded savannah. Present in Burundi, the Central African Republic, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Of 561 occurrences recorded by GBIF, 14 come from Burundi. Reference collection: Biyorwa hill, Butaganzwa commune, Ruyigi province, 1,508 m.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant parts used: leaves and aerial parts.

2015 survey of 60 traditional practitioners in Bujumbura: the species was cited by 32% of them, against chickenpox, dysentery, diarrhoea and measles.

2024 survey of 43 traditional practitioners: 40 cite it. Nine conditions reported, in order of fidelity — dysentery 90%, cholera 72.5%, measles 50%, skin conditions 37.5%, diarrhoea 35%, anaemia 32.5%, hypertension 22.5%, hepatitis 17.5%, meningitis 2.5%. Overall use value 3.34.

A point noted by the authors: it is the only one of the five most used anti-infective species in Burundi to be used alone, without being combined.

Reported preparations

Maceration, decoction, pressing out the juice, eaten as a vegetable, steam bath. Oral, rectal and skin routes.

What research has established

A single qualitative phytochemical screening has been published (2024), on five leaf extracts: sterols and terpenes in the apolar extracts; tannins, polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids in the polar extracts; saponins in the methanolic and aqueous extracts. Alkaloids were detected in none of the extracts.

No molecule has been isolated or characterised.

No pharmacological study — in vitro, animal or clinical — has been published on this species. A PubMed search on the binomial returns no result. The abundant data available for other Justicia, such as J. adhatoda or J. gendarussa, cannot be transferred to it.

Safety

No acute, subchronic, cytotoxic or genotoxic study has been carried out on this species. No contraindication and no drug interaction are documented.

The absence of toxicity data is not proof of harmlessness.

Sources: Nzoyisubiziki et al. (2024), Ethnobotany Research and Applications 29: 1-21, doi:10.32859/era.29.1.1-21 · Ngezahayo et al. (2015), Journal of Ethnopharmacology 173: 338-351, doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.07.028 · Darbyshire, Vollesen & Kelbessa (2015), Flora Zambesiaca 8(6) · POWO, Kew · Prélude database, Royal Museum for Central Africa.

Identification

• Accepted name: Senecio maranguensis O. Hoffm., Asteraceae, tribe Senecioneae. Published in 1895; type specimen from Kilimanjaro (Marangu, Tanzania).
• Six synonyms recorded, including S. hageniae and S. jugicola.
• Kirundi and Kinyarwanda: imbatura. Mashi (South Kivu, DR Congo): mubazibazi. No French, English or Swahili name attested.

Recognising and locating it

A woody shrub reaching about 2 m, taking scrambling forms in forest. Long, flexible, pubescent stems, sometimes tinged with purple. Leathery ovate leaves, 3 to 17 cm, with toothed margins. Flower heads in terminal corymbs, with yellow ray florets.

A precise and fragile habitat: margins of mountain forest and regenerating secondary vegetation, between 1,800 and 2,100 m in Malawi. Present in Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Of 383 occurrences recorded by GBIF, 28 come from Burundi, notably from Kibira National Park, Rwegura sector. Reference collection: Zingi-Nyaruyaga hill, Bugarama commune, Rumonge province, 1,941 m.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant parts used: mainly leaves, also aerial parts and roots.

2024 survey of 43 traditional practitioners, in order of fidelity — pustules 97.2%, skin conditions 94.4%, rashes 91.7%, wounds 47.2%, scabies 27.8%, alopecia 8.3%, loss of appetite 8.3%. Overall use value 3.14, overwhelmingly in the category of skin diseases.

2015 survey: cited by 48% of the traditional practitioners of Bujumbura, against ringworm, purulent eruptions, yaws, chickenpox, diarrhoea, foot fungus and leprosy.

The Prélude database further documents, in Burundi, uses against digestive disorders, cough, ear infection, intestinal parasites and kwashiorkor, as well as a reported use to prevent miscarriage.

Reported preparations

Powder of dried leaves or roots, decoction, maceration, burning to ash, juice of crushed leaves, ash mixed with butter. Oral, rectal, skin and ear routes.

What research has established

2024 qualitative phytochemical screening: sterols and terpenes, tannins and polyphenolic compounds, flavonoids present; saponins absent; alkaloids not detected with Dragendorff's reagent. No molecule has been isolated.

A single published pharmacological study: Uwamariya et al. (2025) report, in vitro, that a methanolic leaf extract acts on respiratory syncytial virus by targeting the viral fusion protein, resistant variants carrying the T335M substitution. The activity values specific to this species are not given separately in the accessible abstract.

No animal study, no clinical trial. No published data on antibacterial, antifungal or wound-healing activity, although the dominant traditional uses are dermatological.

Safety

The genus Senecio is known to contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are hepatotoxic and genotoxic at very low doses. The European Medicines Agency sets an exposure limit of 0.35 micrograms per day for a 50 kg adult and 0.14 micrograms for a 20 kg child; EFSA classes them as possible genotoxic carcinogens in humans.

In Senecio maranguensis these alkaloids have never been measured. The 2024 screening reports them absent, but by a general reaction of low sensitivity, unsuited to traces and to the N-oxides in which they most often occur in this genus. The authors themselves write that their presence and their content remain to be assessed for this species, which is heavily used in Burundi.

Belonging to the genus is not enough to presume them either: production of these alkaloids does not follow the phylogeny, and Senecio coronatus has none.

No contraindication, no drug interaction and no case of poisoning is documented for this species.

Sources: Nzoyisubiziki et al. (2024), doi:10.32859/era.29.1.1-21 · Ngezahayo et al. (2015), doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.07.028 · Uwamariya et al. (2025), Phytomedicine Plus 5: 100842, doi:10.1016/j.phyplu.2025.100842 · EMA/HMPC/893108/2011 (2014) · EFSA CONTAM (2017), doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4908 · Langel, Ober & Pelser (2011), doi:10.1007/s11101-010-9184-y · Van Schalkwyk et al. (2021), doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110680 · Prélude database.

Identification

• Accepted name: Urtica massaica Mildbr. (1923), Urticaceae. No synonym recorded by POWO.
• Kirundi: igisuru, glossed « the nettle ». Kinyarwanda: igisura, umusurasura, ururara. Swahili: mpupu. French: ortie massaïe. English: Maasai stinging nettle.
• Not to be confused: the nettle of Burundi is Urtica massaica, an African species, and not Urtica dioica, the European nettle. The abundant literature on the latter cannot be transferred to it.

Recognising and locating it

A dioecious perennial herb reaching 2 m, growing from a creeping rhizome and forming loose clumps. Stems and leaves covered with stinging hairs 1.5 to 2 mm long, recognisable on contact. Opposite leaves with fused stipules, ovate blade 7 to 13 cm by 6 to 10.5 cm, heart-shaped base, doubly toothed margin. Inflorescences in axillary panicles.

Clearings and gaps in mountain forest, disturbed ground, the surroundings of dwellings and cattle enclosures, between 1,500 and 3,250 m. Present in Burundi, eastern DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. GBIF lists only eight Burundian specimens, in Bubanza and Bujumbura rural — Mount Heha, Ijenda, around 2,000 m, collected in 1935, 1966 and 1975.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant parts used: leafy stem, leaves, root.

In Burundi the Prélude database documents four uses: flogging in veterinary medicine for heat, retained placenta and infertility in cattle; root juice taken orally or as an enema for the same indications; juice of stems and leaves applied locally to wounds; rubbing with the leaves and a root decoction against fever, skin conditions and syphilis. The stinging material is also used on fractures, together with Tragia brevipes. These records are qualitative: no citation frequency is published for Burundi.

In Rwanda, a survey of 124 respondents in eleven districts gives gastric ulcers as the dominant indication, 37% of citations, and hypertension, 15%, along with food, fodder and veterinary uses.

Reported preparations

Juice of root or leafy stem, root decoction, leaf maceration, rubbing or flogging with the stinging stem, poultice of crushed leaves, hot compresses. The leaves are also eaten boiled as a vegetable, scalding destroying the stinging hairs.

What research has established

No phytochemical analysis specific to this species could be verified. The only antibacterial study available carried out neither chromatography nor spectrometry on the plant: it modelled flavonoids reported for the genus Urtica, not isolated from U. massaica.

In vitro, a methanolic leaf extract produces inhibition zones of 6 to 11.7 mm against Acinetobacter baumannii and against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, with no minimum inhibitory concentration reported — weak activity, methodologically limited. PROTA documentation also reports no activity against Plasmodium falciparum.

No clinical trial. No study pharmacologically validates the Burundian indications.

Safety

A single animal study: in pregnant mice, a methanolic leaf extract given orally at 1,000 mg/kg caused 40% partial foetal resorption. The authors conclude that there is teratogenic activity at high dose and call for caution during pregnancy. This signal is isolated and has not been reproduced.

The stinging hairs cause transient skin pain.

No median lethal dose, no subchronic, liver or kidney toxicity data, no contraindication and no drug interaction are documented.

Sources: Bosch & Schippers (2004), PROTA · Nduwamungu et al. (2024), Cogent Food & Agriculture 10(1), doi:10.1080/23311932.2024.2306722 · Boddupalli et al. (2024), Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal 17(3), doi:10.13005/bpj/2961 · Wabai, Mwonjoria & Njagi (2018), The Journal of Phytopharmacology 7(6): 460-463 · Prélude database · POWO, Kew.

Identification

• Name under which the plant is published: Mikania natalensis DC., Asteraceae, tribe Eupatorieae. No synonym recorded by POWO.
• Kirundi: nkuyumwonga, with herbarium specimens deposited under the numbers JN005 and NJA003. Angola: ossivi.

Recognising and locating it

No morphological description has been published for Mikania natalensis in the sources consulted. The related taxon M. chenopodiifolia is described as a liana.

Reference collection in Burundi: Kizigama hill, Butaganzwa commune, Ruyigi province, 1,569 m.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant parts used: leaves and aerial parts.

2024 survey of 43 traditional practitioners, in order of fidelity — hernia 83.8%, rashes 81.1%, pustules 62.2%, diarrhoea 56.8%, chickenpox 48.7%, constipation 40.5%, haemorrhoids and low back pain 13.5%, colonic disorders and cough 5.4%. Overall use value 3.56, the highest of the five species.

2015 survey: cited by 30% of traditional practitioners, against ringworm, pustular eruptions, foot fungus, tonsillitis, meningitis and diarrhoea.

Frequently combined with Helichrysum congolanum, Hypericum revolutum and Pilogyne scabra.

Reported preparations

Maceration, decoction, extraction of the juice, dried leaves burnt to ash or ground to powder then mixed with butter for local application. Oral, rectal, skin routes and steam inhalation.

What research has established

A single published qualitative phytochemical screening: sterols and terpenes, tannins and polyphenolic compounds, flavonoids and saponins present depending on the extract; alkaloids not detected. No molecule isolated.

No in vitro, animal or clinical pharmacological study has been published on this species. The many works on Mikania micrantha and M. cordifolia concern other species and cannot be transferred to it.

Safety

No toxicity study, no contraindication, no documented drug interaction.

Two things make that gap weigh more: the reported routes of administration include enemas and the swallowing of ash, and one of the uses concerns chickenpox in children.

Sources: Nzoyisubiziki et al. (2024), doi:10.32859/era.29.1.1-21 · Ngezahayo et al. (2015), doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.07.028 · POWO, Kew · Prélude database · Flora of Burundi.

Identification

• Name under which the plant is published: Helichrysum congolanum Schltr. & O. Hoffm. (1903), Asteraceae, tribe Gnaphalieae. No synonym recorded by POWO.
• Kirundi: ngabimwe, specimens JN013 and NJA005. GBIF also records the names yembi and kiembi.

Recognising and locating it

No morphological description has been published for this species, nor any key allowing it to be told apart from H. mechowianum in the field. The genus Helichrysum, the everlastings, is recognised by its flower heads with dry, persistent bracts.

Reference collection in Burundi: Biyorwa hill, Butaganzwa commune, Ruyigi province, 1,508 m.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant parts used: mainly leaves, also aerial parts and roots.

2024 survey, in order of fidelity — rashes 88.2%, ringworm 76.5%, skin conditions 73.5%, use as a food supplement 61.8%, pustules 52.9%, chickenpox 23.5%, urinary infection 17.7%, fever and stunted growth in children 11.8%, psychosomatic disorders 8.8%, kwashiorkor 5.9%. Overall use value 3.42.

2015 survey: cited by 55% of traditional practitioners, the highest frequency of the five species, against ringworm, purulent eruptions and diarrhoea.

Under the determination H. ceres, the Prélude database further documents eye, digestive and respiratory uses and uses linked to pregnancy.

Reported preparations

Burning to ash, maceration, decoction, grinding to powder; powder or ash mixed with butter for application to the skin; scarification; extraction of the juice. Oral, rectal and skin routes.

What research has established

A single published qualitative phytochemical screening: sterols and terpenes, tannins and polyphenols, flavonoids and saponins present depending on the extract; alkaloids not detected. No molecule isolated, no essential oil characterised.

No in vitro, animal or clinical pharmacological study. The abundant literature on H. italicum or H. aureonitens concerns Mediterranean or southern African species with no demonstrated link to this one.

Safety

No toxicity study, no contraindication, no documented interaction.

The reported uses concern vulnerable groups — children with stunted growth or kwashiorkor, chickenpox in children, and pregnant women under the other determination. Use as a food supplement, cited by 62% of traditional practitioners, implies repeated exposure to a composition that has not been characterised.

Sources: Nzoyisubiziki et al. (2024), doi:10.32859/era.29.1.1-21 · Ngezahayo et al. (2015), doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.07.028 · POWO, Kew · Prélude database · Flora of Burundi · GBIF, specimen MNHN-P P00039722.

Identification

• Accepted name: Gymnanthemum amygdalinum (Delile) Sch. Bip., Asteraceae. The basionym Vernonia amygdalina Delile remains the name under which almost all the literature is published. Seventeen synonyms recorded.
• Kirundi: umubirizi, umufumya, umubilizi. English: bitter leaf. French: vernonie amère. No Swahili name attested in the sources consulted.

Recognising and locating it

A shrub or small tree over 2 m. Leaves lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, about four times longer than wide. Flower heads cream-white, sometimes tinged with mauve, scented especially at night; flowering from May to September. The frank bitterness of the leaf is the most reliable field criterion, and it is what gives the plant its name.

GBIF counts 42 Burundian occurrences, including herbarium sheets from Kigwena, Bururi, the Rusizi plain and the Mutanga campus, between 1980 and 2019. The species is often planted near dwellings.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant part used: the leaves, in 84% of reported uses.

2023 survey of 341 heads of household in seven provinces and five eco-climatic zones: umubirizi is the most cited plant of the whole antimalarial survey, with a citation frequency of 57.5%, with a secondary use as an insect repellent.

2015 survey: cited by 22% of traditional practitioners, against chickenpox, diarrhoea, respiratory conditions, measles and fever.

The Prélude database documents mainly, in Central Africa, a veterinary use: dewormer, diarrhoea, parasites and fever in cattle. The plant is also eaten as a vegetable.

Reported preparations

Maceration, in 60% of the antimalarial uses reported in Burundi, and decoction, in 37%; pounded leaves; rubbing on the body; tooth brushing. The drink is sometimes mixed with beer or a sweet product.

What research has established

This is one of the best characterised species on this page. Molecules identified: sesquiterpene lactones — vernolide, vernodalol, vernodalinol, epivernodalol; flavonoids — luteolin, isorhamnetin, cynaroside; steroidal saponins — vernoamyosides A to D, vernonioside V.

In vitro, bioguided fractionation isolated vernolide and vernodalol; the ethanolic extract blocks the early sporogonic stages of Plasmodium with a median inhibitory concentration of 15.4 µg/mL, vernodalol at 18.7 µM. The authors note appreciable cytotoxicity of the fractions on two human cell lines.

In mice infected with Plasmodium berghei, parasite suppression reaches 32.5% at 200 mg/kg, 35.4% at 400 and 37.7% at 600, with survival extended from 6.5 to 12 days. The effect is real but modest.

A single clinical trial has been published, in Uganda, on uncomplicated malaria in patients aged at least twelve: adequate clinical response at day fourteen in 67% of them, but complete parasite clearance in only 32% of those, and recrudescence in 71% of the parasites cleared.

Blood-sugar-lowering effects have also been reported in diabetic rats, along with inhibition of alpha-glucosidase.

Level of evidence: antiplasmodial and antihyperglycaemic activity that is real but weak to moderate, consistent between cell and animal models; a single clinical trial, not randomised, with a disappointing result. Nothing allows one to speak of demonstrated efficacy in humans.

Safety

Median oral lethal dose above 2,000 mg/kg in mice for the hydromethanolic extract, with no mortality observed at that dose: the margin is wide in acute administration.

A 2024 review reports leaf contents of lead, chromium, zinc, cobalt and nickel above WHO recommendations — a risk linked to where the plant is gathered rather than to the plant itself.

The cytotoxicity of the sesquiterpene lactones on human cell lines calls for caution with concentrated extracts.

No solid data on pregnancy, breastfeeding or children. No documented drug interaction, in particular with antidiabetic and antimalarial medicines. Chronic toxicity, pharmacokinetics and the safety of prolonged use remain unknown.

Sources: Havyarimana et al. (2023), Ethnobotany Research and Applications 25: 31, doi:10.32859/era.25.31.1-28 · Ngezahayo et al. (2015), doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.07.028 · Degu et al. (2024), Frontiers in Natural Products 3: 1347855, doi:10.3389/fntpr.2024.1347855 · Abay et al. (2015), Malaria Journal 14: 288, doi:10.1186/s12936-015-0812-2 · Bihonegn et al. (2019), SAGE Open Medicine 7, doi:10.1177/2050312119849766 · Challand & Willcox (2009), Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 15(11): 1231-1237, doi:10.1089/acm.2009.0098 · Prélude database.

Identification

• Accepted name: Tetradenia riparia (Hochst.) Codd, Lamiaceae, the mint and basil family. Eight synonyms, including Iboza riparia and Plectranthus riparius.
• Kirundi and Kinyarwanda: umuravumba. English: ginger bush. Related names in Tanzania: ikiingiyi (Chagga), ol-ikiingyi (Maasai).

Recognising and locating it

A semi-succulent deciduous shrub or small tree. Brittle stems. Leaves ovate to oblong, velvety and covered with glands, strongly aromatic when crushed — the smell alone is often enough to identify it. Flowers in large branched panicles, pale mauve to lilac-pink or white; flowering from May to August.

In Burundi as in Rwanda the plant is most often planted in live hedges and around dwellings. It is a plant of the family compound, the rugo, which explains its presence in almost every inhabited region.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant parts used: leaves, stems, aerial parts.

2015 survey: umuravumba is the most cited plant of the whole survey, by 63% of the traditional practitioners of Bujumbura, against foot fungus, cough, sinusitis, diarrhoea, chickenpox, skin fungal infections, ringworm, ear infection and fever.

2023 survey: antimalarial use cited by 9.1% of households, and use as a mosquito repellent.

The Prélude database documents in Burundi cough and throat parasites, as well as an important veterinary use on the Congo-Nile ridge: infertility and refusal to let down milk in cattle, parasites, leeches.

Reported preparations

Maceration, decoction, pounded leaves, leaves passed through the fire or heated in ash to draw out the juice, steam inhalation, rubbing on the throat or body, dried powder applied locally.

What research has established

The phytochemistry is well characterised. Diterpenes: ibozol, 7α-hydroxyroyleanone, 6,7-dehydroroyleanone, sandaracopimaradiene-diol. Alpha-pyrones: umuravumbolide — whose name is built on the Kirundi name — boronolide and tetradenolide. The essential oil is dominated by fenchone, from 3.6 to 64.8% depending on origin.

Several independent teams have reproduced antimicrobial activity in vitro: minimum inhibitory concentration of 15.6 µg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus and 31.2 µg/mL against Candida albicans for the essential oil; 1.95 µg/mL for ibozol against Staphylococcus; 31.2 to 62.5 µg/mL against Mycobacterium tuberculosis for dehydroroyleanone.

One result matches the dominant Burundian use directly: the hydroalcoholic extract inhibits Trichophyton, the agent of ringworm and foot fungus, at 62.5-125 µg/mL.

Antileishmanial activity has been reported, but with a low selectivity index for royleanone, which is toxic to macrophages at active doses.

The most robust result concerns mosquitoes: the essential oil is larvicidal against Anopheles and Aedes at 29 to 41 ppm, fenchone alone at 6 to 7 ppm, through inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, with a selectivity index of 18 to 32 against non-target organisms. This work supports the repellent use, not the curative use.

No clinical trial in humans. Preclinical evidence is fair, evidence of efficacy in humans is nil.

Safety

In mice, root and fruit extracts proved toxic at one gram per kilogram intraperitoneally, whereas leaf and stem extracts did not: which part is used matters.

Human cases of poisoning after overdose have been reported in South Africa: severe mucosal necrosis, profuse salivation exceeding five litres in twenty-four hours, bloody urine and stools, anuria. This is the heaviest safety datum in the file.

No published median oral lethal dose was found. No contraindication and no drug interaction documented. Chronic toxicity and safety in children remain unknown, while Burundian uses largely target children.

Sources: Ngezahayo et al. (2015), doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.07.028 · Havyarimana et al. (2023), doi:10.32859/era.25.31.1-28 · Van Puyvelde et al. (1986), Journal of Ethnopharmacology 17(3): 269-275, doi:10.1016/0378-8741(86)90115-7 · Njau & Ndakidemi (2017), International Journal of Biology 9(4): 35-41, doi:10.5539/ijb.v9n4p35 · Demarchi et al. (2015), Experimental Parasitology 157: 128-137, doi:10.1016/j.exppara.2015.06.014 · de Oliveira et al. (2022), Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology 188: 105265, doi:10.1016/j.pestbp.2022.105265 · Prélude database.

Identification

• Accepted name: Aloe lateritia Engl., Asphodelaceae. Two recognised varieties, var. lateritia and var. graminicola.
• Kirundi: ingarigari, ingagari. Kinyarwanda: inkakarubamba, igikakarubamba. Swahili: mlalangao. No French or English name specific to the species.
• Documented confusion: the literature has confused A. lateritia with Aloe wollastonii, which is the species retained by the flora of Burundi. The 2023 Burundian survey goes no further than Aloe sp. The determination remains partly uncertain.

Recognising and locating it

A stemless or short-stemmed succulent herb reaching 50 cm in older plants, suckering and often forming clumps. Dense rosette of sixteen to twenty lance-shaped leaves, 25 to 50 cm by 5 to 10 cm, marked with white spots, with sharp marginal teeth. The leaf exudate is yellow and dries to a bitter substance.

Grassland and open bush, often on rocky slopes, from 250 to 2,100 m. POWO limits the range to southern Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi, without mentioning Burundi; but GBIF records 23 occurrences there, including a set of herbarium sheets collected on 12 May 1981 at Bukemba, in the Mosso, Bururi province, in Loudetia savannah on a termite mound, held at Uppsala, the Smithsonian, Meise and Naturalis. One publication also concerns Ruvubu National Park. The species is present in Burundi but remains marginal there.

Parts used and reported uses

Plant parts used: leaves, sap and roots.

2015 survey: cited by 7% of traditional practitioners, the lowest frequency of the species on this page, against diarrhoea, measles, skin fungal infection and leprosy.

The Prélude database documents in Burundi one precise, recurring use: the sap serves to remove from the eye the achene of a shrub. It also reports rubbing the juice on the skin, and the use of leaves and roots against diarrhoea, skin eruptions, foot fungus and gonorrhoea.

2023 survey: antimalarial use cited by 2.4% of households, with the notable point that 75% of respondents consider the plant almost impossible to find — a sign of local scarcity.

Reported preparations

Leaf maceration, sap collected directly from the cut leaf and applied locally or instilled, juice of crushed leaves, root decoction, rubbing.

What research has established

The composition is partly known. The exudate contains anthrone C-glucosides: homonataloin and aloin, the latter being the active purgative principle. The roots contain chrysophanol, asphodeline and several aloesaponols.

No pharmacological study — in vitro, animal or clinical — has been published on this species. Searches return only work on other Aloe, which cannot be transferred to it.

The only pharmacologically plausible mechanism, the laxative effect of aloin, follows from the chemical class and not from any study on A. lateritia.

Safety

No median lethal dose, no study of liver or kidney toxicity specific to the species.

A signal exists at the level of the chemical class: hydroxyanthracene derivatives, including aloin and aloe-emodin, were banned in foodstuffs by European regulation 2021/468 over genotoxicity concerns. Those provisions were annulled by the General Court of the European Union in 2024 and the scientific debate remains open. This is not established toxicity for this species, but a regulatory signal about its constituents.

No contraindication and no interaction documented. The eye use reported in Burundi has been the subject of no irritation study.

Sources: Ngezahayo et al. (2015), doi:10.1016/j.jep.2015.07.028 · Havyarimana et al. (2023), doi:10.32859/era.25.31.1-28 · PROTA · POWO, Kew · Prélude database · Regulation (EU) 2021/468 · GBIF, Burundi occurrences.