Samoa is a group of islands in the tropical South Pacific (Western Polynesia).
An important part of traditional Samoan healing practices is the application of herbal medicines. More than 200 plant species are or were commonly or occasionally used in preparing native medicines.
For each plant, information on medicinal uses by Samoan healers can be searched here:
Samoan Medicinal Plant Database
(information on more than 200 plants)
More details on indigenous Samoan herbal medicine, the plants used and the therapeutic relevance assigned to them by Samoan healers are given in the dissertation (1998) of A. Dittmar (Dittmar, A. 1998. Zur traditionellen Heilkunde Samoas. Charakteristika und Strukturierungen des Heilpflanzenuniversums. Egelsbach, Frankfurt, München: Verlag Dr. Hänsel-Hohenhausen. Diss. Univ. Frankfurt 1998. (Deutsche Hochschulschriften 1153)).
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O P R S T U V W X Z
Plants without known scientific name
E aogâ vai pâlagi mo ma'i pâlagi, 'ae aogâ vao samoa mo ma'i samoa.
The strangers' treatments will work for the strangers' illnesses and
the Samoan treatments for the Samoan illnesses.
(Samoan saying)
Database
plant names