**3.1 Ethnobiological distribution and nomenclature of** *C. spinarum* **L.**

*C. spinarum* has a wide ethnobiological distribution. Overall, a total of 284 documents were reviewed for this study including medical and other ethnobotanical uses. There are ethnobotanical reports from 35 countries across 3 continents as illustrated in the map in **Figure 4**. This is less than the botanical distributions and could indicate that it is not considered a useful species in the remaining 29 countries, that such research has not been conducted or that the knowledge has been lost. For the purposes of our analysis, the geographical regions have been divided as follows: Eastern Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia); Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi, Mayotte, South Africa, Zimbabwe); Central Africa (Chad, "Congo Belge" and "Ruanda-Urundi", DRC, Burundi); West Africa (Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, 'French West Africa', Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo); Northern Africa (Sudan); Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia); Eastern Asia (China); Southeast Asia

Carissa spinarum *L.: A Case Study in Ethnobotany and Bioprospecting Research DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104665*

#### **Figure 5.**

*Documents % per country (>6 = 80% total) citing ethnobotanical use of* C. spinarum*.*

('Indo-China' i.e., Vietnam) and South Asia (India, Pakistan). The proportional geographical distribution of these studies is illustrated in the chart in **Figure 5** showing that most of the research has occurred in Kenya, Ethiopia and India with Uganda, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania and Australia being proportionally in a second tier of the data. The Kew Medicinal Plant Names Service [34] lists 162 common names. In this study, the most common vernacular names found are *Agam* (and variations— Ethiopia), *Muyonza* (and variations—Kenya), *Legetetwo* (and variations—Kenya), *Lamuriei* (and variations—East Africa), *Olamuriaki* (and variations—East Africa); *Bois drone* (Mauritius), *Konkerberry* (and variations—Australia), *Currant bush* (and variations—Australia), *Gara-asur* (India), *Karamarda* (and variations—India) and *Karaunda* (and variations—India and Pakistan).
