Ethnobotany Research and Applications

Study on magico-religious plants in Paddari tribe of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Kanwaljeet Singh, Pankaj Kumar, Bushan Kumar, Sumeet Gairola — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The present study was carried out in Paddar region of Jammu and Kashmir to investigate and document the plant species used by the Paddari tribe in socio-magico-religious purposes.

Methods: Ninety-eight informants (55 males and 43 females) in the age of 21 to 80 years were included in the study. Purposive, snowball and random sampling methods were used to choose the informants. Information was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, group discussions, and field visits. Data was quantitatively analyzed using Relative Frequency of citations (RFCs), Cultural Importance (CI), Family important value (FIV), Informant consensus factor (ICF), Jaccard’s Index (JI).

Results: The study documented 32 plants of 31 genera from 19 families for magico-religious purposes. Herbs (47%) were the dominant plant forms and stem (23%) is the mostly used part used in magico-religious practices. Pyrus malus L. and Brassica campestris L. have high relative frequency of citation (RFC) as well as cultural importance (CI). MAG had the highest informant consensus factor (ICF=0.968). Magico-religious use of Rosa moschata Herrm., Desmodium elegans DC., Achillea millefolium L., Angelica glauca Edgew., Indigofera tinctoria L., Prunus persica, Rosa webbiana Wall. ex Royle are reported for the first time.

Conclusions: The people of Paddar have rich traditional knowledge of employing plants in magico-religious practices. It is critical to maintain this traditional knowledge by proper documentation and identification to ensure their sustainable use. It is recommended that the study area's inhabitants must be educated on the value of plant diversity and monitored and contacted on a regular basis regarding their beliefs.

Keywords: Magico-religious beliefs, Sacred Plants, Cultural beliefs, Paddari tribe, Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir

Sharing the ecological knowledge of plants used in handicrafts as a survival strategy of rural communities of Dera Ghazi Khan district, Pakistan

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: Craftwork is one of the vital components of phyto-culture worldwide. It offers a livelihood to marginalized communities in the rapidly changing environmental conditions with the preservation of cultural diversity. This study aimed to evaluate the indigenous knowledge about the utilization and cultural importance of plant-based handicrafts in the rural communities of Dera Ghazi Khan District, Pakistan.

Methods: In order to collect the desired data preliminary, surveys and field trips were carried out in sixteen remote sites of the study area from September 2021 to May 2022. Altogether, 105 respondents were sampled via snow-boll sampling techniques. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were employed after getting verbal consent. The participants were evaluated for their ethnicity, age, language, education, and livelihood. The status, challenges and transmission of traditional knowledge were also assessed.

Results: Five plant taxa were recorded for craftwork, i.e., Saccharum bengalense Retz.(Poaceae), Phoenix dactylifera L., Nannorrhops ritchieana (Griff.) Aitch. (Arecaceae), Typha latifolia L. (Typhaceae), and Tamarix aphylla (L.) H.Karst. (Tamaricaceae). These species grow around wetlands and only Phoenix dactylifera L. was cultivated species. The participants cited 49 handicraft products manufactured from the reported species. Maximum products (14. 28%) were made from the raw materials of Phoenix dactylifera L. followed by Nannorrhops ritchieana (Griff.) Aitch. (12, 24%), Typha latifolia L. (9, 18%), and Saccharum bengalense Retz.(8, 16%) and Tamarix aphylla (L.) H.Karst. (6, 12%). All these handicraft products were in rough and limited marketing loop. The documented species were also valued for traditional therapies of 25 diseases related to respiratory, digestive, urinary, dermal and cardiovascular systems. Relative frequency citations (RFCs) were ranged from 0.17 – 0.24 for calculated for Nannorrhops ritchieana (Griff.) Aitch. and Phoenix dactylifera L. respectively.

Conclusion: Similarly, in the current era of modernization, the traditional knowledge of crafting plants is seemingly underappreciated. Although it is still in practice with subjection to limitation, fragmentation, and eroding. In this regard, social discouragement, harsh socio-ecology, modern life patterns and shifting earning trends are potential factors for its depletion. Inclusion of this valued knowledge in school syllabi, development of vocational centers, and devising of a proper market chain could be game changers for revitalization and achievement of sustainable development goals for these impoverished but professional communities.

Keywords: Phytoculture, marginalized communities, craftworks, livelihood, modernization

Ethnobotany of Medicinal Plants in Leuwiliang (Bogor), Indonesia

Mentari Purti Pratami, Anisa Anggraeni, Wawan Sujarwo — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: Bogor, a suburban area of Jakarta, harbors a rich diversity of plants traditionally used for medicinal purposes, one of them is Leuwiliang. Furthermore, comprehensive documentation regarding the use of these plants as traditional medicine is lacking. Therefore, this study aims to identify the medicinal plants, their uses, and conservation efforts.

Methods: This study involved interviews with users of plant-based medicine. The researchers interviewed thirty respondents from 11 villages. The inquiries encompassed characteristics of both the respondents and the medicinal plants. Additionally, the researchers also conducted exploration, and identification.

Results: A total of 101 species belonging to 44 families were identified as potential medicinal plants for treating various ailments prevalent in the Leuwiliang community. The family Zingiberaceae emerged as the most commonly used for medicinal purposes, followed by Asteraceae and other families. Degenerative diseases like diabetes and hypertension were found to be the most prevalent among the Leuwiliang community. Most of the plants used originated from Malesian region, and their conservation status is largely secure, given that most are herbaceous. The community in Leuwiliang practices cultivation of medicinal plants in their home gardens as a conservation effort to prevent these plants from becoming endangered.

Conclusions: The abundance of reported medicinal plants underscores the rich traditional knowledge within the Leuwiliang community. However, knowledge regarding the application of these medicinal plants is gradually waning due to the effects of climate change and modernization.

Keywords: local wisdom, medicinal plants, plant diversity, traditional knowledge, traditional medicine

Evaluating the Conservation Value and Medicinal Potential of Wild Herbaceous Flora in the Sanghar Mountains of District Bhimber, AJK, Pakistan

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The current research aimed to explore the conservation status, ethnobotanical and traditional ethnomedicinal uses of wild flora in the Sanghar mountains of District Bhimber, Pakistan, with a focus on discovering novelty and potential drugs.

Methods: This study was conducted in 2018-19 and involved interactions with indigenous communities, with informants ranging in age from 40 to 100 years. Open-ended and closed-ended interview protocols were employed to gather information. Conservation status was determined using a semi-structured questionnaire covering anthropology.

Results: Among the 248 plant species studied, 47 were trees, 42 were shrubs, and 159 were herbs, all of which were utilized in traditional ecological medicines and ethnobotany. Out of the 248 plant species, 120 (48.38%) were annual, 6 (2.44%) were biennial, and 122 (49.18%) were perennial plants. Poaceae and Asteraceae stood out as the most prevalent families in the region, with 33 and 14 plant species respectively. These plants served various purposes, with 30% utilized as fodder, 24% as fuel sources, and smaller percentages employed for ethnoveterinary medicines, home construction, cosmetics, and honeybee cultivation. The traditional applications of these plants encompassed the treatment of a wide range of ailments, including fever, cough, jaundice, skin diseases, diabetes, snake bites, and dental issues. Among the 248 plant species studied, 4.64% were dominant, 5.24% endangered, 43.54% vulnerable, 38.70% rarely distributed, and 6.85% infrequent, indicating the urgent need for focused conservation efforts.

Conclusion: The research underscores the potential for drug discovery within traditional ethnomedicinal practices, emphasizing the conservation of the flora from the study area.

Keywords: Ethnobotany, plant biodiversity, medicinal plants, botanical composition, drug discovery

Ethnomedicinal study of medicinal plants used by the Melanau Igan Community of Sarawak

Keeren Sundara Rajoo; Nurul Azwany Umayrah; Philip Lepun — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The Melanau Igan community is a distinctive subgroup of the larger Melanau ethnic group. What sets the Melanau Igan apart from other Melanau communities is their unique dialect and cultural characteristics. The present study was conducted to document the herbal medicinal plants used by this community, and the cultural, geographical, and historical dimensions that shape this ethnomedicinal system.

Methods: A total of 71 respondents from five Melanau Igan villages were interviewed in this study. The results were evaluated based on the plant’s total use-reports, number of respondents citing the plant, and use-reports by ailment category. Moreover, the similarity with other neighboring ethnic groups were calculated.

Results: The 71 respondents in this study cited 72 plant species with a total of 596 use reports. Fever, headaches, skin issues, diabetes, and hypertension are the most common ailments treated with traditional medicine in the Melanau Igan community. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Citrus aurantifolia, Psidium guajava, Ageratum conyzoides and Citrus limon play prominent roles in the traditional medicine of the community, being the top five plants with the most respondent citations.

Conclusions: A distinctive feature of the Melanau Igan community's ethnomedicine is the significant role of women in traditional healing due to their household and caregiving responsibilities. The uniqueness of the community’s traditional medicine is influenced by historical and cultural factors, while geographical proximity does not guarantee similarity. Their coastal lifestyle, historical associations, and cultural ties with Malays shape their ethnomedicinal practices, underscoring the importance of considering these contexts when studying traditional medicine in Borneo.

Keywords: Ethnobotany; Tropical forest herbs; Borneo; Southeast Asia; Traditional medicine

An ethnoecological study on plant conservation in Jering Menduyung Nature Recreational Park of West Bangka (Indonesia)

Jely Jeniver, Eddy Nurtjahya, Wawan Sujarwo — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The communities around Jering Menduyung Nature Recreational Park (NRP) have local wisdom for utilizing and managing natural resources. Nature management, which is done and influenced by the implementation of local wisdom, can be studied through ethnoecological studies. This research aimed to record the plant species protected by local wisdom that supports the conservation of trees in the lowland forest of Jering Menduyung NRP through ethnoecological studies.

Methods: This research was conducted in January-July 2023 in the traditional Jering Menduyung NRP and Air Menduyung Village. Ecological data were collected through vegetation analysis using the quadrat method with 21 plots and analyzed by calculating the Important Value Index. Local wisdom was collected through interviews and observation, which were analyzed descriptively and by calculating the Index of Cultural Significance.

Results: There were 37 tree species found in 24 families. The main uses of these tree species are for building boats and houses, being utilized as traditional ritual materials, and being the source of natural honeycomb. Based on the ICS values, the most important species in the local culture are Calophyllum lanigerum Miq., Dipterocarpus gracilis Blume, Ficus sundaica Blume, and Dipterocarpus grandiflorus (Blanco) Blanco. These tree species are protected by the local wisdom in managing landscape units, a ban on cutting trees in the rimba, belief in pulong kayu, sapon honey, the taboo of melayuk, and traditional rituals.

Conclusions: Local wisdom of the community around Jering Menduyung NRP supports tree conservation in those areas.

Keywords: Jerieng Tribe, Local ecological knowledge, Local wisdom, Traditional ecological knowledge, Tree

People and plants - close relationships at the crossroads of the Silk Roads: the case of Tajikistan

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: This study examines the spatial relationship between human populations, livestock and wild useful plants in Tajikistan, a key area along the ancient Silk Roads. It aims to understand how the distribution of these plants correlates with the presence of humans and livestock.

Methods: The study uses statistical analyses, including the LSVM model, to assess the distribution of 4269 plant species, of which 1823 are identified as useful. Various factors such as bioclimatic conditions and plant use categories are taken into account.

Results: The results indicate a significant correlation between the distribution of useful plants and human population, especially in urbanised areas, which cover 7.4% of Tajikistan. In particular, flora functionality significantly influences human population distribution.

Conclusions: The research highlights the importance of spatial relationships between humans and useful flora in population distribution. It suggests that these relationships should be included in models predicting human settlement patterns based on environmental factors.

Keywords: useful plants, human population distribution, Tajikistan, Middle Asia, spatial relationship, ethnobotany, support vector machines, supervised learning models.

Ethnomedicinal Potential of indigenous plants of the Northern Balochistan, Pakistan

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: The Pakistani region of Balochistan lies within the borders of three countries (Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan) and is a large, arid and mountainous province that makes up a large part of the country's land area. It is called a sacred land by the locals as it has different ecological conditions such as attractive landscapes, magnificent forests and a variety of unique flora and fauna. This study, the medicinal use of plants in the Northern region of Balochistan province in Pakistan was documented.

Methods: During the field research conducted in 2021-2023, an open-ended survey was prepared to record and document the ethnomedicinal use of high-value medicinal plants in the study area. The ethnomedicinal data was collected by administering the prepared questionnaire to local people, pansars, judges, local midwives and old wise men (both men and women).

Results: A total of 93 ethomedicinally important plant species from 40 families are reported from the northern Balochistan. Out of the 93 species, 1 species (1.07 %) was a gymnosperm, 11 species (11.82 %) belonging to 6 families were monocotyledons and the remaining 81 species (87.09 %) belonging to 33 families were of dicotyledons. Papilionaceae was the leading family in terms of species diversity, represented by 14 medicinal plant species (15.05 %) belonging to 9 genera (9.67 %), followed by Asteraceae with 9 species (9.67 %) belonging to 9 genera (9.67 %), Apiaceae with 7 species (7.52 %) belonging to 7 genera (7.52 %), Brassicaceae with 5 species (5.37 %) belonging to 5 genera (5.37 %) and Lamiaceae with 5 species (5.37 %) belonging to 4 genera (4.30 %). The remaining 36 families had less than 5 species each (5.37 %). According to habit, most medicinal plants were herbs with 55 species (59 %), followed by shrubby plants with 33 species (36 %) and trees were represented by 5 species (5 %). The most common and important plant part used in the preparation of recipe was the whole plant, 37 species (39.78 %), followed by leaves, 14 species (15.05 %) and seeds, 10 species (10.75 %). Oral ingestion was the main route of administration with 74 (79%) species, followed by topical application with 9 species (10 %), while 10 species (11 %) were used both topically and orally. The ethnomedicinal study revealed a total of ninety-three species most important for therapeutic use. The bulb of Allium griffithianum is used orally for mouth ulcers, while the whole plant of Achyranthes aspera is used for coughs and rheumatism. Therefore, some species are also used for multiple purposes (Berberis baluchistanica, Onosma hispida, Citrullus colocynthis, Ephedra intermedia, Acacia nilotica, Astragalus khalifatensis, Berchemia pakistanica, Ziziphus mauritiana and Withania coagulans), while only a few plants in this area have a single therapeutic use (Achillea wilhelmsii, Iphiona grantioides, Matricaria aurea, Microcephala lamellate, Heliotropium baluchistanicum, Cardaria chalepense, Sisymbrium irio, Tetracme stocksii, Acanthophyllum grandiflorum, Convolvulus spinosus, Cuscuta pulchella, Euphorbia granulata, Ricinus communis, Iris stocksii, Alhagi maurorum, Caragana brachyantha, Parkinsonia aculeata, Papaver pavoninum, Sorghum halepense, and Ranunculus falcatusi).

Conclusions: Since the species have medicinal value, the results of our study provide important scientific as well as practical insights. In this context, we believe that the species used by local people in traditional treatment will be important for the protection of social health.

Keywords: Ethnomedicinal plants; Herbal recipes; Northern Balochistan; Pakistan

The role of plants in traditional medicine and current therapy: A case study from North part of Kashmir Himalaya

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: In many rural areas, especially in developing nations, medicinal plants serve as the main source of the healthcare systems. The purpose of this study was to document the therapeutic plants used by the local population in the Kashmir Himalayas.

Methods: Ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured questionnaire was used to conduct one-on-one interviews and group discussions with selected informants. Use value (UV), relative frequency of citation (RFC), and informant consensus factor (ICF) were three quantitative indicators used to assess the homogeneity of the ethnobotanical data.

Results: A total of 72 medicinal plants belonging to 41 different families were reported. Asteraceae, Lamiaceae and Polygonaceae were the dominant families. Leaves were the most commonly plant part used and infusion the dominant plant preparation. Gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary conditions, followed by dermatological disorders and musculoskeletal conditions were treated by highest number of plant species. Highest UV was reported for Artemisia absinthium (0.65), Rheum webbianum (0.59) and highest RFC is reported for Arnebia benthamii (0.61), Taraxacum officinale (0.59). The highest IFC values are reported for Gynecological disorders (0.99), Muscular and joint diseases (0.98) disease categories. Out of 72 medicinal plants reported 59 medicinal plants were used for different ethno-biological uses other than medicinal values. A total of 8 medicinal plants were exotic species, and 14 were reported in IUCN red list.

Conclusion: Due to increasing human activity and environmental degradation, traditional knowledge on plant use is slowly disappearing in many regions. The promotion of the transmission of traditional knowledge requires immediate action. In order to boost local economic development and uphold the principle of biodiversity protection, it is also necessary to ensure the sustainable use of medicinal plants.

Keywords; Kashmir, local communities, Medicinal plants, Traditional therapies.

Indigenous utilization of medicinal plants in Kalasha tribes, District Chitral, Hindukush Range, Pakistan

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Background: Indigenous people residing in the remote localities have practicing knowledge about the utilization of herbal resources to cure different ailments. Current study was conducted in Kalash valley District Chitral (Lower), Pakistan to investigate the indigenous medicinal plants, their local names, uses, etc. The valley inhabits peoples with unique culture and costumes and considered as the descendants of Alexander the great having their own way of plant utilization for medication.

Methods: Data was collected by interviewing through questionnaires. During the fieldwork, 133 respondents (99 men and 34 women) of different age groups were selected and personal observations were also recorded. Data was analyzed by using parameters like Use Report (UR), Use Values (UV), Frequency of Citations (FC), Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) and Relative Frequency of Citations (RFC). The plants were provided with voucher numbers after collection and identification.

Results: 90 medicinal plant species from 44 families and 75 genera used to treat 23 illnesses. Rosaceae was leading family with 13 species (14.45%) followed by Asteraceae with 07 species (7.80%) and Lamiaceae 06 (6.70%) species. The most frequently used plant component was fruit (34.44%) followed by leaves (26.66 %) and powder was found to be the primary method of preparations and are often either ingested or used topically. The maximum used value was reported for Allium cepa (0.92) and minimum (0.06) for Carum carvi. The digestive system disorders showed highest Informant Census Factor (ICF) values (0.71) followed by the Anti-microbial diseases having ICF value of 0.68, while the evil-eyes repellent plants showed least ICF (0.40) values. The highest RFC was recorded for Cannabis sativa (0.40) while Cedrus deodara has the lowest (0.10).

Conclusion: The present findings revealed that the Kalash valley has diverse plant resources used for various human aliments. The current work will provide useful information for future studies on various aspects of botanical sciences from the area.

Keywords: Medicinal uses, plant resources, Kalash Valley, Hindukush Range, Pakistan