ABSTRACT
Plants are used in complex and varied ways throughout Cameroon. Household compounds contain regularly used medicinal, food, ornamental and protective species, many brought from the forest. “Wrapping” leaves are harvested for use in almost every forest village, and forest spices distinct to a regional cuisine are consumed locally and traded widely, including to urban centres where demand for forest plant products and ‘bushmeat’ persists in the tastes and diet of city-dwellers. Medicinal bark from a few trees has found favour in international markets, and demand from people thousands of miles away for medicines to treat prostate problems (Prunus africana) or enhance sexual performance and provide energy (Pausinystalia johimbe) has created trade networks throughout the forest zone. Forest fruits, spices, wild greens, thatching and fuelwood species, medicines, protective plants and those with myriad other uses combine to form what are known as ‘non-timber forest products’.
