Abstract
In Cambodia, medicinal plants are often used to treat various illnesses. However, the identities of many medicinal plants remain unknown. In this study, we collected 50 types of traditional Cambodian medicinal plants that could not be identified by their appearance from a domestic market. We utilized the DNA barcoding technique, combined with the literature survey, to trace their identities. In the end, 33 species were identified at the species level and 7 species were identified at the genus level. The ethnopharmacological information of 33 medicinal plants was documented. The DNA barcoding technique is useful in the identification of medicinal plants with no previous information.
Highlights
Cambodia is located in the Indo-China Peninsula, where it borders Thailand, Vietnam, and Lao PDR in Southeast Asia
According to the results of Internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and psbA-trnH experiments, 33 plants were identified at the species level
The ITS2 amplification of three samples and psbA-trnH amplification of 13 samples were unsuccessful, which might have been due to impure or degraded DNA of processed medicinal materials
Summary
Cambodia is located in the Indo-China Peninsula, where it borders Thailand, Vietnam, and Lao PDR in Southeast Asia It does not exceed 4% (181,035 km2) of the total area of Southeast Asia, Cambodia is well-known for its rich biodiversity, overlapping with four of the 25 “biodiversity hotspots” and maintaining rich natural resources and a unique ecosystem. 1,200 medicinal plants are used to treat diseases (Xu, 2008; Walker, 2017). In the face of disease, 70–80% of Cambodians opt for traditional medicinal methods (Walker, 2017; Yao et al, 2017) with approximately 40–50% of the population using medicinal plants daily (Chassagne et al, 2017)
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