Abstract
This study documents information on significant ethnomedicinal plants, which was collected from the traditional healers of three indigenous communities of Bangladesh. The documented data were quantitatively analyzed for the first time in this area. The information was obtained through open-ended, semi-structured questionnaires. The benefits, importance and coverage of ethnomedicine were expressed through several quantitative indices including Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Use Value (UV), Frequency of Citation (FC), Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) and Relative Importance Index (RI). The agreement of homogeneity between the present and previous studies and among the indigenous communities was evaluated using the Jaccard Index (JI). A total of 159 ethnomedicinal plant species, which were distributed in 132 genera under 62 families, were documented from 174 informants. Of these, 128 plants were native and 31 were exotic. Of a majority of documented species, herbs and leaves were the most utilized plant parts for the preparation of ethnomedicines (45.28%) whereas pastes (63.03%) were the most popular formulations. Among the documented species, the dominant families were the Asteraceae (14 species) and the Lamiaceae (12 species). The highest ICF value was 0.77 for digestive system disorders. Based on UVs, the five most commonly used ethnomedicinal plant species in the study area were Duabanga grandiflora (0.43), Zingiber officinale (0.41), Congea tomentosa (0.40), Matricaria chamomilla (0.33) and Engelhardtia spicata (0.28). The highest RFC was recorded for Rauvolfia serpentina (0.25). The highest RI value was calculated for both Scoparia dulcis and Leucas aspera (0.83). Importantly, 16 species were reported with new therapeutic uses and to our knowledge, 7 species described herein have never been ethnobotanically and pharmacologically studied, viz: Agastache urticifolia, Asarum cordifolium, C. tomentosa, E. spicata, Hypserpa nitida, Merremia vitifolia and Smilax odoratissima. The present study showed that traditional treatment using medicinal plants is still widespread in the study area. Documentation of new ethnomedicinal species with their therapeutic uses shall promote further phytochemical and pharmacological investigations and possibly, lead to the development of new drugs.
Highlights
Plant species have long played important roles for humanity
The Bandarban is a hilly district situated in South-Eastern Bangladesh with an area of 4479.03 sq. km., between 21◦11′ and 22◦22′ North latitudes and 92◦04′−92◦41′ East longitudes
As the Marma were the largest community in the study area, a larger number of informants (99) were interviewed from that community, compared to those from the Chak and Tanchayanga communities
Summary
Plant species have long played important roles for humanity. The formal study of these plants has proven to be a powerful tool in understanding how different indigenous communities relate to natural resources, notably for medical and pharmaceutical applications (de Albuquerque and Hanazaki, 2009). Ethnomedicinal study has been a fundamental source for the discovery of natural and synthetic drugs (Fabricant and Farnsworth, 2001). Ethnobotanical knowledge continues to provide a starting point for many successful drug screening projects in recent years (Heinrich and Bremner, 2006). The origins of over 50% of all pharmaceutical drugs could be traced back to ethnomedicine (Van Wyk et al, 1997)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
