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Towards exploration of plant-based ethno-medicinal knowledge of rural community: basis for biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh

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Abstract

Because lack of data impedes the assessment of the conservation of medicinal plants, ethno-medicinal studies are important to fill this gap. This study considered the traditional use of plants for health care by the rural communities in two forested and non-forested regions of Bangladesh. A total of 230 respondents were interviewed accompanied by field observation and voucher specimen collection. Altogether, 68 species of medicinal plants belonging to 38 families distributing over 58 genera were recorded, of which 22 species were common in both regions. Trees were the most commonly utilized growth form and leaves were the most commonly used plant part. Forests and homesteads were the major sources of medicinal plants in forested and non-forested regions, respectively. High use versatility (Relative Importance >1) was represented by 14 species; Emblica officinale L. and Allium sativum L. were the most versatile species. Forty-one individual ailments were treated with the medicinal plants recorded. The ailment categories ‘respiratory problems’ and ‘sexual problems’ received the highest score from the calculation of informants’ consensus factor (F ic) in forested and non-forested regions, respectively. The findings could contribute in the pharmaceutical sector by directing further investigation of bio-active compounds in medicinal plants. Secondly, results could inform the clues for conservation strategies of forest resources in that region.

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Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely extend their thanks to Laura Applegate, Washington State University for her voluntary assistance in editing language of the manuscript. They also thank Shampa Biswas, School of Environmental Sciences and Management, Independent University of Bangladesh for establishing communication with Laura Applegate in this regard. The authors are grateful to the respondents for their all-out cooperation during field work. They acknowledge the Ministry of Science and Education, Japan for granting scholarship to support the research and study of the first author. Finally, thanks are extended to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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  1. Forest Policy Laboratory, Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, 8304 Minamiminowa-Mura, 399-4598, Nagano-Ken, Japan

    Mohammad Shaheed Hossain Chowdhury & Masao Koike

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  1. Mohammad Shaheed Hossain Chowdhury
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  2. Masao Koike
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Correspondence to Masao Koike.

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Table 4 Medicinal plants and their relative importance recorded in the study areas
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Chowdhury, M.S.H., Koike, M. Towards exploration of plant-based ethno-medicinal knowledge of rural community: basis for biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh. New Forests 40, 243–260 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-010-9197-9

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