A Survey of Medicinal Plants Used by Folk Medicinal Practitioners of Paschim Shawra and Palordi Villages of Gaurnadi Upazila in Barisal District, Bangladesh

Abstract

Folk medicinal practitioners (Kavirajes) are possibly the most ancient practitioners of traditional medicine in Bangladesh and in general are the primary health-care providers to a majority of the rural population and a substantial segment of the urban population in the country. The Kavirajes rely almost exclusively on medicinal plants for treatment of various ailments. The medicinal plants chosen by the Kavirajes vary considerably even between adjacent villages. To get a comprehensive view of folk medicinal practices, it is therefore important to survey as many Kavirajes of different villages as possible. The objective of the present study was to conduct an ethnomedicinal survey among the Kavirajes of Paschim Shawra and Palordi villages, Gaurnadi Upazila, Barisal district, which lies in the southern section of the country. Informed consent was obtained of the Kavirajes and interviews conducted with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method. All plant specimens as pointed out by the Kavirajes were collected and brought back for identification at the Bangladesh National Herbarium. It was observed that the Kavirajes of Paschim Shawra and Palordi villages used 51 plants distributed into 33 families for treatment of various ailments. The Fabaceae family contribued the higest number of species (6 plants) followed by the Lamiaceae (4 plants), Lythraceae and Zingiberaceae families (3 plants per family). Leaves constituted the major plant part used (43%), followed by whole plant(12%), rhizome (6%), bark (4%).The largest number of remedies was used to treat gastrointestinal disorders (23 plants), suggesting that this is the most prevalent disorder in the area. Respiratory tract disorder (11 plants) like coughs, chest pain, bronchitis, asthma and whooping cough and sexual disorders (11 plants) including leucorrhea, sexual weakness, menstrual problem, gonorrhea and loss of libido formed the second most common disorders treated by the Kavirajes. 10 plants were used for the treatment of skin diseases like tinia infection, scabies, and eczema. The Kavirajes also used medicinal plants for treatment of ailments including diabetes, urogenital disorder, hepatic disorder, neurological disorder, pain and inflammation, fever, weakness, infectious, cancer, blood purifier, blood clotting agent, anemia, snake bite, insect bite ,aging, appetizer, blood pressure, malaria, heart disease and others. A perusal of the scientific literature showed that uses of several plants by the Kavirajes are validated by scientific studies on the pharmacological activities of the relevant plant species. Overall, the plants present considerable potential for further scientific studies leading to discovery of novel drugs.