An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the Siwai and Buin districts of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance Traditional knowledge of medicinal plant use in many regions of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville is poorly described and rapidly disappearing. A program initiated by the University of Papua New Guinea to systematically document and preserve traditional knowledge of medicinal plant use was initiated with WHO help in 2001. Aim of the study To document and compare medicinal plant use in the Siwai and Buin Districts of the Island of Bougainville. Siwai and Buin districts represent two adjacent geographic regions of differing language traditions. Materials and methods This report is a combination of two University of Papua New Guinea reports generated using a University of Papua New Guinea and Papua New Guinea Department of Health approved survey questionnaire “Information sheet on traditional herbal reparations and medicinal plants of Papua New Guinea”. Results Although Siwai and Buin Districts are adjacent in Southern Bougainville, there is considerable variation in the specific plants used medicinally and the specific uses of those plants that are used commonly in the two regions. In addition, many of the plants used in the region are widely distributed species that are used medicinally in other settings. Nevertheless, the high endemicity of plants and the extraordinary cultural diversity in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville has yielded description of the medicinal use of many plants that have not previously been reported in the wider scientific literature. Conclusions Efforts to document and preserve traditional knowledge of plant use in Papua New Guinea have yielded important new records of plants with potential application in the provision of health care for a developing nation with an under developed Western style rural health care system. This report documents substantial commonality in the general modes of medicinal plant preparation and in the health care applications of plant use in the Siwai and Buin traditions, however, there was considerable difference noted in the particular uses of the specific plants used in one or another of the districts.

Myristicyclins A and B: Antimalarial Procyanidins from Horsfieldia spicata from Papua New Guinea

“…It is used in Bougainville for stomach ache and diarrhea. 3 The only traditional uses reported for H.spicata (a minor hardwood tree) are for dress and wood. 4 Following up on this activity, extracts of mixed wood, twigs, and leaves from H. spicata were fractionated leading to the isolation and identification of myristicyclins A ( 1 ) and B ( 2 ) whose structures and activity we report here.…”

Interactions of Papua New Guinea medicinal plant extracts with antiretroviral therapy

“…As previously reported (Waruruai et al, 2011; Jorim et al, 2012), University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) fourth year pharmacy students collected medicinal plants from their home communities. These were in the Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Enga, Western, Manus and Northern Bougainville (autonomous) provinces.…”

An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea

“…Newspapers were changed daily until they remained dry after compression. Pressed plant samples, plant photographs and descriptions were assigned a voucher numbers and deposited at the UPNG Herbarium for identification and reference purposes [8]. The data concerning plant use are written up under supervision into student authored reports and the plant information is entered into the Traditional Medicines Database, which contains the combined reports generated by a decade’s work in this endeavor.…”

“…Of PNG’s approximately 6.2 million people about 430,000 reside in the Eastern Highlands [7]. This extended habitation of diverse environs has led to a rich and varied practice of medicinal plant use [8]. …”