Medicinal+plants+of+the+Democratic+Republic+of+Congo

The trade in medicinal plants from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Matonge-Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium.

In January 2014, MSc student Marie-Cakupewa Fundiko started her MSc research at Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her MSc research will focus on medicinal plants from the DRC traded in the neighbourhood Matonge-Ixelles in Brussels, Belgium.

Shops in Matonge sell a wide variety of African food crops and medicinal plants.

The main questions to be answered in this research project include:

What species of medicinal plants from the DRC are sold in Matonge-Ixelles? Why do clients buy African herbal medicine in this neighborhood? What proportion of the commercially traded herbal medicine in the DRC is available to Congolese migrants in Brussels?



//Landolphia owariensis// (Apocynaceae), an edible forest fruit from Congo, locally known as matonge, lent its name to this vibrant African neighbourhood in Brussels.

Ms Fundiko has completed her BSc Biology in Kinshasa, DRC. She has done several studies on medicinal plants of the DRC. Since little research results on herbal medicine from this region is made available on the web, we decided them to publish them through this website:

Mandango, M.A., Idrissa, A., Fundiko, M.C, Mungele, O.N. 2002. //Revue de Médecines et Pharmacopées Africaines//, EYSINES, France.

Fundiko, M.C, Mandango, M.A., Ludiongo, N. 2000. //Revue de Pédagogie Appliquée (//RPA), IPN, KINSHASA, Vol. XVI, no 2, pp 275-280.