Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by K’Ho-Cil people for treatment of diarrhea in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam

Abstract

BackgroundMany medicinal plants have been used in Vietnam but most of them have not been studied and documented. In this study, the traditional plants used by K’Ho-Cil people living in BiDoup-Nui Ba National Park, Vietnam for treatment of diarrhea and identified potential medicinal plants were documented. MethodsInformation of the medicinal plants used was collected through field surveys and semi-structured interviews with key informants. Plants used for anti-diarrhea were selected for further analysis in structured questionnaires. The potential medicinal plants were identified through quantitative tools: fidelity level (FL) and choice value (CV). The relationship between traditional knowledge and gender, age and geological site was also evaluated using statistical analysis. ResultsOf the 133 taxa reported by 12 key informants, 34 anti-diarrheal plants were confirmed by 127 non-specialist informants. Interestingly, these plants were also used for 35 other health problems. Among the medicinal plants, Asteraceae was the most predominant family. Elephantopus mollis and Chromolaena odorata belonging to this family with the highest CV were the most preferred ones in diarrheal treatment (1.23 and 1.04, respectively). Moreover, in regard to FL and literature review, several potential plants for further studies were identified, for example Hedyotis capitellata var pubescens and Syzygium ripicola (FL = 100%), or Clitoria mariana and Dacrycarpus imbricatus (FL = 80 %). ConclusionIn Vietnam, folk medicine has been widely used by many people without documentation for preservation and scientific study. This study contributes a database of anti-diarrhea plants used by K’Ho-Cil people living in BiDoup-Nui Ba National Park, Vietnam.