Ethnobotany and Traditional Knowledge of Acanthaceae in Peninsular Malaysia A Review

Abstract

Plants are considered as a great source of various herbal medicines which are been useful in the treatment of various ailments and diseases. A great contribution of plant-based materials in the pharmaceutical field results in the growing interest on the exploitation of indigenous medicinal plants to make a potential medicine. Several potent plant families are broadly investigated throughout the world including the family of Acanthaceae. Acanthaceae is a large pantropical family of flowering plants comprised of approximately 240 genera and 3250 species in the world. In Peninsular Malaysia, Acanthaceae is one of the families with the largest number of genera and species by which 29 genera and 158 species are respectively recorded. This study thereby deals with the review of information on the ethnobotanical significance of medicinal plants belong to Acanthaceae. This review covers informative data on medicinal plants, its uses and part used based on three tribal groups of indigenous people, Malay villagers and local market traders in Peninsular Malaysia. From the review, Acanthaceae possesses a huge contribution to the ethnobotanical part especially to treat certain diseases. The ethnobotanical data has also served a great contribution to the conservation and sustainability of natural resources. By keeping this point, this present review on ethnobotany and traditional knowledge of Acanthaceae is expected to give benefits and considered a good starting point for future works on the pharmaceutical field, especially for Peninsular Malaysia.