Abstract

Invasive plants were planted in Bangladesh to improve the stand stock quickly and meet the country’s rapidly growing demand for timber. Although invasive species have negative impacts on local ecosystems, but some species are useful too. Therefore, the present study was conducted in and around two protected forests of Bangladesh to assess the status, species diversity, and curative uses of invasive plants. A total of 60 sample plots were surveyed from 5 habitat types, for example, forest, roadside, homestead, fallow land, and others. Plants uses data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions. Study recorded 43 invasive medicinal plant species belonging to 28 families, of which Asteraceae constituted the highest family importance value (21.9). Among the habitat types, fallow land (32 species) and roadside (29 species) possess the highest number of species. Based on people’s perceptions, plants were categorized into three level of invasion: low (11 species), moderate (19 species), and high (13 species). The use of aerial plant parts was higher (68%) than the whole plant (17%). Consensus of local community’s (ICF) was high in managing gastrointestinal (0.65) followed by respiratory (0.60) diseases. A number of biological diversity indices were applied to quantify definite diversity. Therefore, a national programme must be initiated to increased invasive plant inventory, monitoring, and research on distinguishing the harmful from the harmless species and identifying the potential uses of invasive species.

Highlights

  • The practices of plant-based traditional medicine are based on hundreds of years of belief and observations, which predate the development and spread of modern medicine [1, 2] and this knowledge has been passed on orally from generation to generation without any written document [3]

  • Khadimnagar National Park (KNP) is located at North Sylhet Range-1 and Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary (RKWS) is located at Habigonj-2 Range in Sylhet Forest Division under tropical evergreen and semievergreen biogeographic zone

  • A total of 43 invasive medicinal plant species belonging to 28 families were recorded, which is used for medicinal purposes by the local communities living in and around KNP and RKWS

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Summary

Introduction

The practices of plant-based traditional medicine are based on hundreds of years of belief and observations, which predate the development and spread of modern medicine [1, 2] and this knowledge has been passed on orally from generation to generation without any written document [3]. During the last few decades, the study of medicinal plants and their indigenous use in the world has been increasing and an interesting issue for the researcher and natural resource manager [4, 5]. Such type of study is important for the conservation and utilization of biological resources and found to be one of the reliable approaches to drug discovery [4, 6]. A total of 70,000 plant species have been used for medicinal purposes in the world [7] and among 6,500 species found in Asia [8]. The World Health Organization estimates that, in some Asian and African countries, 80% of the population depend on traditional medicines for their primary health care [10] and over 50% of the population in North America, Europe, and other industrialized countries use plants and plant extracts for their medicinal needs [11]

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