Understanding plant community characteristics, distributions, and environmental relationships is crucial for sustainable forest management. Thus, this study examined the relationships between plant community composition and topographic and soil variables within the Arjo-Diga forest. Vegetation data were collected from 72 nested plots (30 × 30 m2 and 2 × 2 m2) systematically laid along nine transects spaced 300 to 700 m apart. Environmental variables, including soil properties and anthropogenic disturbance, were recorded within each main plot. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) using R software were employed to identify distinct plant community types and examine their relationships with environmental factors. The Shannon‒Wiener diversity index was calculated to quantify and compare species diversity among the identified community types. The analysis revealed five distinct plant community types: 1: Maesa lanceolata-Ehretia cymosa, 2: Trichilia dregeana-Flacourtia indica, 3: Acacia abyssinica-Millettia ferruginea, 4: Combretum collinum-Croton macrostachyus, and 5: Terminalia macroptera-Piliostigma thonningii. The CCA results highlighted the significant influence (p < 0.05) of altitude, CEC, TN, and disturbance on species distribution and plant community formation. The findings indicate that variation in plant communities is closely associated with altitude, TN, and CEC, as well as with disturbance factors such as human interventions, with elevation being the most influential factor. Based on these findings, it is recommended that conservation plans consider the effects of human interventions to address the challenges in conserving forests in the future. Additionally, further research efforts should focus on mitigating disturbance factors and understanding the environmental variables that affect forests to improve their protection.

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The first comprehensive plant checklist for the Bvumba massif, situated in the Manica Highlands along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, is presented. Although covering only 276 km 2 , the flora is rich with 1250 taxa (1127 native taxa and 123 naturalised introductions). There is a high proportion of Orchidaceae and Pteridophyta, with both groups showing a higher richness than for adjacent montane areas, which may be due to the massif's relatively high moisture levels as a result of frequent cloud cover. However, in contrast to other mesic montane regions in southern Africa, there are relatively few near-endemic or range-restricted taxa: there is only one local endemic, Aeranthes africana , an epiphytic forest orchid. This is likely to be an effect of the massif having limited natural grassland compared to forest, the former being the most endemic-rich habitat in southern African mountains outside of the Fynbos Biome. Six other near-endemic taxa with limited distribution in this portion of the Manica Highlands are highlighted. The high number of invasive species is probably a result of diverse human activities in the area. The main species of concern are Acacia melanoxylon , a tree that is invading grassland and previously cultivated land, the forest herb Hedychium gardnerianum which in places is transforming forest understorey with an adverse effect on some forest birds, and the woody herb Vernonanthura polyanthes which invades cleared forest areas after fire. Future botanical work in the massif should focus on a more detailed exploration of the poorly known Serra Vumba on the Mozambican side and on the drier western slopes. This will allow for a more detailed analysis of patterns of endemism across the Manica Highlands.

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Leguminosae is an economically important family that contains a large number of medicinal plants, many of which are widely used in African traditional medicine. Angola holds a great socio-cultural diversity and is one of the richest floristic regions of the world, with over 900 native Leguminosae species. This study is the first to assess the medicinal uses of the legumes in Angola and provides new data to promote the conservation and the sustainable use of these unique resources. We document the ethnobotanical knowledge on Angola by reviewing the most important herbarium collections and literature, complemented by recent field surveys. Our results revealed that 127 native legume species have medicinal uses and 65% of them have other important uses by local populations. The species with most medicinal applications are Erythrina abyssinica, Bauhinia thonningii and Pterocarpus angolensis . The rich flora found in Angola suggests an enormous potential for discovery of new drugs with therapeutic value. However, the overexploitation and the indiscriminate collection of legumes for multiple uses such as forage, food, timber and medical uses, increases the threats upon the native vegetation. Efforts to assess the conservation status of these species are urgently needed, and future actions should promote the sustainable use of medicinal plants in Angola together with the implementation of conservation strategies.

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Two new isopropenyl-dihydrofuranoisoflavones exhibiting antimicrobial properties have been isolated along with eight known compounds from the Cameroonian medicinal plant Crotalaria lachnophora. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry as 7,2',4'-trihydroxy-5''-isopropenyl-4'',5''-dihydrofurano[2'',3'':5,6]isoflavone (1) and 4,8-dihydroxy-2-isopropenyl-2,3-dihydro-5H-[1]benzofuro[2,3-b]furo[3,2-g]chromen-5-one (2). The CH(2)Cl(2)/MeOH (1:1) extract and the compounds isolated were subjected to in vitro antimicrobial assays against a panel of pathogenic microorganisms, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. The new compounds, named lachnoisoflavones A (1) and B (2), showed moderate inhibitory activities against Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

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The antioxidant activities of 53 medicinal plants used in Bamun folk medicine for the management of jaundice and hepatitis were investigated. The studies were done using rat hepatic microsomes for lipid peroxidation and bovine serum albumin (BSA) for carbonyl group formation. Silymarine was used as reference compound. Fifteen different extracts were effective at a dose of 200 microg/ml in both experiments. Specifically, 25 extracts inhibited lipid peroxidation initiated non-enzymatically by ascorbic acid while 18 inhibited peroxidation as determined by reduced Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate (NADPH). The inhibitory concentration 50 (IC(50)) of 23 different plant extracts was lower than 200 microg/ml in the microsomal lipid peroxidation inhibition study. Fifteen of the 23 extracts were active in preventing protein oxidation by inhibiting the formation of the carbonyl group on BSA with an IC(50) value less than 200 microg/ml. The results suggest that the antioxidant activity of the extracts, may be due to their ability to scavenge free radicals involved in microsomal lipid peroxidation or in protein oxidation. These biochemical processes are involved in the aetiology of toxic hepatitis.

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