A Survey on Medicinal Plant Usage by Folk Medicinal Practitioners in Different Villages at Nalitabari Upazilla, Sherpur District, Bangladesh

Medicinal plants are an important and often the only component in the formulations used by the folk medicinal practitioners of Bangladesh for treatment of various ailments. Folk medicinal practitioners, well known as Kavirajes, form the primary line of health-care among a substantial section of the rural and urban population of Bangladesh. They rely on administration of medicinal plants for treatment of diseases. Since the medicinal plants used by the Kavirajes differ widely even between adjoining areas, the objective of the present study was to conduct an survey among the selected Kavirajes of different villages at Nalitabari Upazilla situated in Sherpur district, Bangladesh. A semi structured questionnaire and the guided field walk method was used to obtain data from selected Kabirajes. Plant specimen as pointed out by them were collected and identified at the Bangladesh National Herbarium. It was observed that the Kavirajes of the selected areas used a total of 115 plants distributed into 68 families for treatment of various ailments. Of the total 160 uses found in the present survey, leaves formed the most frequently used plant part (26.87%), followed by fruits (18.12%), seeds (16.25%), roots (13.75%), stems (11.27%), flower (6.23%), bark (5%) and whole plant (2.6%). Most of cases, a single plant part was used for treatment of any given ailment. Most of the plants were used to treat common ailments such as respiratory tract problems, gastrointestinal disorders, fever and loss of hair, vomiting, menstrual problems, skin disorders, dental diseases, cracked foot, bleeding, insect bites and bone fracture. However, a number of plants were also used to treat more complicated ailments like cardiovascular disorders, hepatic disorders, mental disease, epilepsy, piles, leprosy, diabetes and cancer or tumors.