Uses in Tribal People The utility of medicinal plants played an important role in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and also in modern medicine. Jeevani (stimulant) and energy tonic was synthesized from Trichopus zeylanicus which became the first patent of tribes in India. Poor families residing in the remote hilly areas are engaged in the collection of medicinal plants. Chakma, Marma, Rakhine, Tipra, Garo, and Khashia are habituated to use many medicinal plants.
Identified Species Emperor Shah Nung (2700 BC) mentioned 365 drugs in his book, and Aristotle (384- 322 BC) enlisted more than 500 plants. Carl Linnaeus (1732) recorded some medicinal remedies in his diary used by the Sami people. Around 2,000 medicinal plants are available in this sub-continent where 449 are enlisted in Bangladesh. A manually curated database mentions 1208 species of medicinal plants in Bangladesh. There are 5,000 plant species, of which approximately 1,500 are considered medicinal plants based on the literature survey. Till now, 747 plants were enlisted as medicinally important. Out of 500 species of medicinal plants in Bangladesh, about 250 species are significant for manufacturing traditional medicines. The majority number of these plants have not yet confirmed their bioactive compounds by chemical, pharmacological, and toxicological studies.
Cured Diseases People use medicinal plants to treat various ailments based on indigenous knowledge passed to them generation after generation. They use medicinal plants on the advice of wise men, herbalists, and traditional practitioners. Men have used medicinal plants as their food and cure for various ailments. Extracts of some plants are used as a molluscicide to control schistosomiasis. Herbal medicines can be considered safe alternatives to modern drugs and used in some infectious diseases.
Causes for Decreasing In view of the growing population, anthropogenic activities, the plant wealth is eroding rapidly. As a result, many plants are becoming endemic and some might have been lost. Efforts have to be made to protect the loss through in-situ and ex-situ conservation strategies. Human beings only have been mostly responsible for the destruction of habitats through intensive agricultural development, overexploitation of natural resources, urbanization, industrialization, deforestation, population and environmental degradation. Medicinal plants suffer overexploitation, extinction, adulteration, unhealthy processing, storage problems, identification and marketing.
Organic Farming Organic farming with medicinal plants may give solutions to get pesticide-free, nutritious, quality food and this farming keeps us away from junk food which bring us back to our rich traditional food.