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Study of Ethnomedicinal Plants Used by the Local People of Feni District, Bangladesh

Mohammad Zashim
Department of Botany, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.

Md. Golam Kibria
Department of Botany, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.

Md. Abul Hassan
Department of Botany, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Ethno-medicinal study was conducted to document medicinal plants used by the local people of Feni district. The targets of the study were to identify and document plant species used for treatment of various ailments and to find out the level of consensus or agreement between informants regarding the uses of plants for particular disease categories. The study has been resulted in recording of 115 medicinal plant species with 216 formularies to treat 69 ailments. These species belongs to 55 families. Such data indicated that the study area has plenty of medicinal plants with their diversity of health care uses. Ailment category cut and wounds attained highest Fic value. Species used for this purpose are Mikania cordata, and Cynodon dactylon which were cited by many informants. Second highest Fic value was found in case of Dysentery and diarrhoea. Medicinal plants used for this purpose are Litsea glutinosa, Dalbergia sissu, Mangifera indica, Scoparia dulcis, Holarrhena antidysenterica, Stephania harnandifolia and Centella asiatica those were cited by a good number of informants. Since the Fic values attained highest, such plants could be recommended for further phytochemical study to isolate compounds responsible for the remedy of ailment category cut and wounds and diarrhoea and dysentery. In the present survey, 16 species has attained 100% FI values. This FI values means that the informants have a tendency to rely on one specific plant species for treating one certain ailment than several ailments. The study asserted that such species need to be protected in the study area to sustain traditional medicinal plants and culture. Finally, a number of threats to the medicinal plants have been identified and some measures for conservation have been suggested.

Keywords: Ethnomedicinal plants, Local people

Location: Feni district

Start Date: 00-00-2014

End Date: 00-00-2014

Program Area: Development of Host and Medicinal Plants

Commodity: Medicinal Plants

Objectives:

1. To record ethnomedicinal use of plants,

2. To determine agreement in the use of medicinal plants in the ailments categories between the plant users,

3. To determine most frequently used medicinal plant species by local people in study area and

4. To find culturally important medicinal plants.

Methodology:

Feni is a south-eastern district of Bangladesh and lies between 22°44' and 23°17' N and between 91°15' and 91°35' E. The total area of the district is about 990.36 sq. km. The district is bounded on the north by Comilla district and Tripura (India), on the east by India and Chittagong district, on the south by Chittagong and Noakhali districts and on the west by Noakhali district. The district was established in 1984. The district consists of 6 upazilas including Chhagalnaiya, Daganbhuiyan, Feni Sadar, Parshuram, Phulgazi and Sonagazi. The Feni and Muhuri are the main rivers of this district. Feni is one of the coastal districts at the fringe of the Bay of Bengal with vast char land of recent origin in the south and in the east by the river Muhuri. The area enjoys tropical climate with high rainfall and flush flood during monsoon period. In dry period the area has gone under boro cultivation using water from Muhuri project, a dame made in the estuary of Feni and Muhuri River. The vegetation type is similar to the vegetation of the lower Gangetic plain and other districts in the southern region of the country. There is no forest land in the district except the government sponsored afforestation programme for the coastal belt. The north-eastern part of the district reflects some characteristics of the Tripura State of India. However, all homesteads are usually covered by dense and lush green foliage of wide variety of both native and exotic species of trees. Both sides of the high road are covered by exotic trees. The study area has been visited four times in different seasons of the year of 2014. The data of medicinal uses have been recorded through semi-structured interviews, key informant discussions and informal conversations with local people and also herbal practitioners. Participant observation, plant interview, field interview and group interview were also followed to collect data. A total of 65 informants has been interviewed. They were mostly male with the age range from 18 to 95 years old. Education levels of the informants were from illiterate up to B. Sc. Degree. Professionally they were mostly farmer and small shopkeepers. During the field survey, information on uses of plants to treat human, parts used modes of preparation and administration has been collected. The vernacular names have been collected with the help of local people. Voucher specimens for each medicinal plant have been collected and processed using standard herbarium techniques. The specimens were identified consulting different Floras viz., Hooker 1872-1897, Prain 1903, Uddin and Hassan 2004, Siddiqui et at. 2007c and Ahmed et at. 2008a, 2008b, 2009b, 2009c, 2009d, 200ge. Specimens available at Dhaka University Salar Khan Herbarium (DUSH) were consulted in identifying the collected plant specimens. The updated nomenclature of the species followed are Siddiqui et at. 2007c and Ahmed et at. 2008a, 2008b, 2009b, 2009c, 2009d, and 200ge. Voucher specimens are deposited at DUSH. High Fie thus means that there is a narrow well-defined group of species used to cure a particular ailment category and/or that information is exchanged between informants. On the other hand, low Fie values (close to zero) indicate that informants disagree over which plant to use due to random choosing or lack of exchange of information about use among informant. Cf values are useful to determine most common medicinal plants in the study area. The FI value is useful for identifying the informants most preferred species in use for treating certain ailments. The FI values range from o to 100%. Medicinal plants that are widely used by the local people for certain ailment have higher FI values those that are less popular.

Source of Information: J. Asiat. Soc. Bangladesh, Sci. 41 (2): 203-223, December 2015

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

In the present survey, 16 species has attained 100% FI values. This FI values means that the informants have a tendency to rely on one specific plant species for treating one certain ailment than several ailments. The study asserted that such species need to be protected in the study area to sustain traditional medicinal plants and culture. Finally, a number of threats to the medicinal plants have been identified and some measures for conservation have been suggested.

Knowledge Management: Journal