Use of plants in healthcare: a traditional ethno-medicinal practice in rural areas of southeastern Bangladesh

Abstract

This study considered traditional ethno-medicinal practices of rural people of Feni district, Bangladesh, focusing on their utilization of medicinal plants and associated indigenous knowledge. Ninety households were interviewed using a semistructured questionnaire. Plant resources are used to treat 26 different ailments ranging from simple cuts to diabetes. In total, 46 medicinal plants are as used, of which a third are trees. Homesteads are the primary source and few medicinal plants are cultivated. Aboveground plant parts are most used, particularly leaves. The diverse patterns of use of different medicinal plant parts shows the considerable indigenous knowledge of rural people and is generally widely available.

Therapeutic use of plants by local communities in and around Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary: implications for protected area management in Bangladesh

“…These medicinal plants include trees (34%), shrubs (32%), herbs (23%) and creepers (11%). In general, trees are the commonest medicinal plants in rural Bangladesh -as evident from several studies (e.g., Miah & Chowdhury 2003;Mukul et al 2007;Chowdhury et al 2009a). As rule, protected areas have a rich floral diversity, and in Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary a total of 606 plant species were recorded during the period 1998-2000 in a floristic survey (Uddin 2001 , Mujib Nature Reserve of Jordan (Hudaib et al 2008), Satchari National Park of Bangladesh (Mukul et al 2007) and Velliangiri holy hills of India (Ragupathy et al 2007), respectively.…”

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

“…Among the medicinal plants, trees were the most frequent growth form (33.82%) followed by shrubs (26.47%), herbs (25%), creepers (11.70%) and palms (2.94%). In general, trees are the mostly used growth form of medicinal plants in rural Bangladesh as depicted in several studies (e.g., Miah and Chowdhury 2003;Mukul et al 2007;Chowdhury et al 2009) with a few exceptions as in Halim et al (2007) where they found that trees were used least among a religio-cultural group in southwestern part of the country. Other than Bangladesh, trees were found dominant medicinal plants among the Tharus, a forest dweller community of Nepal (Ghimire and Bastakoti 2009) unlike in Ethiopia where it was dominated by herbs (Dawit and Estifanos 1991;Yineger et al 2008).…”

“…Most people (36.67%) have agriculture as their major occupation. Feni is one of those 28 districts where literally no natural forests are located, rather marginal lands have become forested with the plantations of both indigenous and exotic tree species, where herbs and shrubs grow deliberately as understory (Chowdhury et al 2009). …”

“…About 74.5% of total populations live in rural areas (FAO 2010) and almost 80% of them are dependent on medicinal plants for primary health care (Chowdhury et al 2009). Most of the rural people depend on medicinal plants growing in the homestead forests, also known as village forests (Halim et al 2007), which cover about 13% of the total forestland area (Kibria et al 2000).…”

Phytochemical Analysis and Antioxidant Activity of Ethanolic Extracts of Tagetes Erecta and Zingiber Officinale

“…[8] which has a strong historic evidence for its religious and therapeutic value [9] in the treatment of hiccups, dermatitis, athlete's foot, colitis, wound burns etc. [10] Decoction of flowers are very effective for cold conjunctivitis, mumps and eye sore. [11] Zingiber offcinale, commonly known as Ginger, belongs to Zingiberaceae family.…”