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Ethnomedicinal exploration of plants utilized by the people of Suryabinayak Municipality in Bhaktapur District, Nepal

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Abstract

Since time immemorial, people have been utilizing plants as a source of therapeutic agents for human and animal health. Plants have been used as a source of traditional medicine in Nepal. The present study documented the material medica of ethnic people living in different wards of the Suryabinyak Municipality, Nepal. Data was collected by individual interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire survey with the guidance of 58 informants. The Frequency Index (FI) value, linear model regression and Pearson correlation were calculated to determine the relative importance of medicinal plants’ species along with the relation between age groups and number of plants known respectively. Results shown 107 medicinal plants (74 wild and 33 cultivated) species under 54 families were used for the prevention and treatment of 39 different diseases such as jaundice, diarrhea, dysentery, and cancer as well as 46 different distinct health benefits linked to coughing, anti-bleeding, stomachache. Of the 107 plant species documented, herbs were the widely used (n = 64, 59.81%), and leaves (n = 33, 30.84%) were the most utilized plants part. Curcuma longa had the highest FI value of 84.48%. The age of respondents and the number of plants known had a positive association (R2 = 0.823) according to the linear regression model. Local people of the Suryabinayak Municipality have sound knowledge regarding the traditional utilization of plant species for the treatment and prevention of many health problems.

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Acknowledgements

We express our sincere gratitude to the local people of Suryabinayak Municipality, who helped us immensely in collecting ethnomedicinal data of the listed plants.

Funding

No funding for the present research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Bhaktapur Multiple Campus, Bhaktapur, 44800, Nepal

    Alisha Bhaila, Sudarshana Shakya & Nabin Narayan Munankarmi

  2. Department of Botanical Sciences, Biotechnology Society of Nepal (BSN), Kausaltar, 44800, Nepal

    Bikram Kunwar, Bikash Baral & Nabin Narayan Munankarmi

  3. Institute of Biological Resources, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Bikash Baral

  4. Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Amrit Science Campus, Kathmandu, 44600, Nepal

    Sujan Chaudhary

Authors
  1. Alisha Bhaila
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  2. Sudarshana Shakya
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  3. Bikram Kunwar
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  4. Bikash Baral
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  5. Sujan Chaudhary
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  6. Nabin Narayan Munankarmi
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Contributions

AB, BK and NNM designed the concept of the study. Field visit and data collection was done by AB, SS, BK, and NNM. Data analysis and computation was done by SC, BB and NNM. Drafting of manuscript was performed by AB, SC, BB and NNM. Finally, the manuscript was critically revised by all the authors and approval was gained for publication.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bikash Baral or Nabin Narayan Munankarmi.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. We declare that the present study is our own work with our own findings which have never been conducted by any other researcher.

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Verbal consent was received from all the respondents for interviews.

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Verbal consent was received from the villagers and respondents for further publication after the completion of research.

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Bhaila, A., Shakya, S., Kunwar, B. et al. Ethnomedicinal exploration of plants utilized by the people of Suryabinayak Municipality in Bhaktapur District, Nepal. Vegetos 35, 763–774 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42535-021-00339-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42535-021-00339-2

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