Abstract

The present paper focused on medicinal plants used by traditional practitioners in Daulatpur Upazila of Kushtia district, Bangladesh from October 2018 to September 2019. The information about medicinal plants uses of traditional practitioners was collected through interview. A total of 45 medicinal plant species under 43 genera and 33 families have been documented which are used for the treatment of 48 categories diseases. These medicinal plants are used by the traditional practitioners for the treatment of various diseases like asthma, anemia, burning sensation, blood pressure, constipation, cough, diarrhea, diabetes, dysentery, eczema, fever, headache, heart disease, jaundice, leprosy, toothache, ulcer, skin disease, snake-bite, wound, and others. All these plants need to be evaluated through phyto and pharmaco-chemical investigations to discover their potentiality and may help in discovering effective drugs for human health care.

1. Introduction

Medicinal plants serve as important therapeutic agents as well as valuable raw material for manufacturing numerous traditional and modern medicines. They offer alternative remedies with tremendous opportunities to generate income, employment and earn foreign currencies for developing countries ¹. Many traditional healing herbs and their parts have been shown to have medicinal value and can be used to prevent, alleviate or cure several human diseases. It is estimated that 70-80% of people worldwide rely chiefly on traditional, largely herbal medicine to meet their primary health-care needs ^{2, 3}. It has further been observed that a number of modern pharmaceuticals have been derived from plants used by indigenous people ^{4, 5}. Important modern drugs that have been derived from observations of traditional curing methods of indigenous people include aspirin, atropine, ephedrine ^{5, 6}.

In Bangladesh, medicinal plants are found grown naturally in forests, bushes and marginal land along the canal and in other places. A long tradition of indigenous herbal medicinal systems, based on the rich local plant diversity is considered a very important component of the primary health-care system. Among the various systems of traditional medicine co-existing within the country are the homoeopathic, ayurvedic, unani and the traditional medical system. The latter system is practiced by folk or traditional medical practitioners, otherwise known as Kavirajes ⁷. There are over 87,000 villages in Bangladesh and most villages have one or two practicing Kavirajes. Knowledge of the medicinal plants used by the Kavirajes of Bangladesh can be a good source for further scientific studies in the quest for better drugs from the medicinal plants used and with lesser side effects. Previous ethno-medicinal studies conducted among traditional and tribal medical practitioners in Bangladesh have noticed considerable variation between the medicinal plants selected by different Kavirajes for treatment of a given ailment ^{8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23}. These variations exist even between Kavirajes practicing in adjoining villages with identical flora. The objective of the present study was to conduct ethno-medicinal survey among the traditional medical practitioners in Daulatpur Upazila of Kushtia District, Bangladesh.

2. Materials and Methods

The study was conducted in Daulatpur Upazila of Kushtia district, in the southwestern part of Bangladesh. Daulatpur is located at 24.0014°N 88.8750°E. It has 66479 households and total area 468.76 km². Daulatpur Upazila is bounded by Bagha Upazila in Rajshahi District and Lalpur Upazila in Natore District, on the north, Bheramara and Mirpur Upazilas on the east, Gangni Upazila in Meherpur District and Mirpur Upazila in Kushtia District, on the south, and Jalangi CD Block, in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India, and Karimpur I and Karimpur II CD Blocks, Nadia district, West Bengal, on the west (Figure 1) ²⁴.

Data were collected through personal interviews during October, 2018 to September, 2019. During the interview, the information was noted in the documentation data sheet. All the information regarding plant species, biological forms, habitat, local names and uses was documented. Medicinal information was obtained through semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable people such as local Kavirajes. A total of 15 informants having an age range 40-65 years were interviewed using semi-structured interviewed method. Professionally they were farmer, house wives, small shop keepers etc. The information about the plants used for various diseases was gathered through interviews and discussion with the traditional medical practitioners. Plant specimens were collected with flowers and fruits and processed using standard herbarium techniques ²⁵.

Collected species were authentically identified with the help of various literatures ^{26, 27, 28}. For the current name and up-to-date nomenclature ²⁹ and ³⁰ were also consulted.

3. Results and Discussion

The present paper focused on medicinal plants used by traditional practitioners in Daulatpur Upazila of Kushtia district, Bangladesh from October 2018 to September 2019. The information about medicinal plants uses of traditional practitioners was collected through interview. A total of 45 medicinal plant species under 43 genera and 33 families have been documented which are used for the treatment of 48 categories diseases. Out of 45 species, 33.33% species were herb, 22.22% species were shrub, 15.55% species were climber and 28.88% species were used as medicine (Table 1; Figure 2). These medicinal plants are used by the traditional practitioners for the treatment of various diseases like asthma, anemia, burning sensation, blood pressure, constipation, cough, diarrhea, diabetes, dysentery, eczema, fever, headache, heart disease, jaundice, leprosy, toothache, ulcer, skin disease, snake-bite, wound, and others. In majority cases, leaves (37.37%) of medicinal plants were found leading in terms of 21.31% root, 18.11% stem, 24.17% whole plant, 16.11% seed, 8.56% flower, 12.80% fruit, 5.54% bark, 3.28% petiole, 4.92% rhizome and 2.11% Gum (Figure 3).

The most frequently used species for the treatment of different disease are Tagetes erecta L., Terminalia arjuna L., Syzygium cumini L., Swietenia mahagoni (L.) Jacq., Psidium guajava L., Ocimum sanctum L., Moringa oleifera Lam., Mentha arvensis L., Mimosa pudica L., Lawsonia inermis L., Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L., Heliotropium indicum L., Ficus racemosa L., Datura metel L., Carica papaya L., Curcuma longa L., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Catharanthus roseus L., Cinnamomum tamala (Buch.Ham) Nees & Eberm, Calotropis gigantea (L.) W.T.Aiton, Coccinia cordifolia (L.) Cogn., Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Oken, Annona reticulata L., Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr., Abroma augusta L., Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Achyranthes aspera L., Andrographis paniculata Wall ex. Nees., Limonia acidissima L., Piper longum L., Scoparia dulcis L., Solanum nigrum L., Acalypha indica L., Amaranthus viridis L., Amaranthus spinosus L., Mangifera indica L., Justicia gendarussa L., Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., Aristolochia indica L., Asparagus racemosus Willd., Justicia adhatoda L., Mikania cordata L., Commelina benghalensis L., Vitex negundo L. and Centella asiatica L. This finding of common medicinal plant families in this study is in agreement with ^{8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23}. So far the information available, no published data documented on the medicinal plants in Daulatpur Upazila of Kushtia district, Bangladesh. The present document will help in identifying the medicinal plants for further investigation.

4. Conclusion

The justification of medicinal plant usage by folk medicinal practitioners and their mode of usage indicate that this knowledge will be useful to investigate those plants’ use in modern science. At the same time, scientific justification of the various medicinal plants’ use by the traditional practitioners can go a long way towards conservation and cultivation of these plant species. Finally, it can be concluded that availability of native medicinal plant species can be ensured through management of areas that are rich in plants with important medicinal properties with the development of rural and community based resources. All these plants need to be evaluated through phyto and pharmaco-chemical investigations to discover their potentiality and may help in discovering effective drugs for human health care.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the local people in Doulatpur Upazila of Kushtia District, Bangladesh for their co-operation and help during the research work.

References