Medicinal Flora of the Umaru Musa Yar'adua University Herbarium: A Taxonomic Survey

Herbaria provide verifiable, specimen‐based records that are fundamental to taxonomic research and increasingly important for documenting medicinal plant diversity. We present a comprehensive, voucher‐based assessment of the medicinal flora represented in the Umaru Musa Yar'adua University (UMYU) Herbarium, Katsina, northwestern Nigeria. A total of 400 medicinal plant species belonging to 247 genera and 70 families were documented and taxonomically verified. Medicinal uses were compiled from authoritative ethnobotanical sources and classified into 12 standardized body‐system–based categories. Fabaceae was the most species‐rich family, followed by Poaceae, Malvaceae, Moraceae, and Loranthaceae, together accounting for nearly half of all taxa. Rank–abundance analysis revealed strong taxonomic dominance at the family level but greater evenness among genera, supported by diversity indices (family‐level Shannon H = 3.247; genus‐level Shannon H = 5.237). Herbs and trees were the dominant growth forms, and native species constituted the majority of taxa, although introduced and unverified species were also represented. Medicinal‐use diversity was highest for infectious, dermatological, and digestive disorders, with leaves, bark, and roots most frequently utilized. This study provides the first herbarium‐based synthesis of medicinal plant diversity from northwestern Nigeria and establishes a reference for floristic, conservation, and pharmacological research in the Sudan and Sahel regions.