The southern African region, as defined by the Flora of southern Africa (FSA), has an extremely rich and diverse flora comprising± 24 500 taxa making up about 10% of the world's flora. It is also home to a wide diversity of cultural groups, all of whom utilise the flora for traditional medicine. The knowledgable use of plants in traditional medicine within the region has been documented in a large number of publications. The current work provides an annotated checklist based on information derived from the more important published ethnomedicinal works, as well as toxicological, ecological, floristic and specimen data sources. Included in this checklist is information for 215 families, 1 240 genera and 3 689 taxa of ethnomedicinal plants. This represents 15% of the region's flora and includes 159 taxa, included in a separate appendix, that are Red Data Listed. Provided for each taxon are basic reference flags to its ethnomedicinal usage and harmful properties, a list of synonyms, its growth form(s), Red Data Listing and distribution within the region. A list of 109 references, scanned to compile the checklist, is included.

Medicinal plants are plants which are used in herbalism and thought to have certain extractable/compound in their leaves, stems, flowers and fruit for medicinal purposes. These extracts are used as inputs in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, insecticide and other chemical industries. The booklet is a guide to the most commonly utilised medicinal plants in South Africa.