Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants Used by Local Communities In Kebena District Gurage Zone Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region Ethiopia
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Date
2021-06-25
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
An ethnobotanical study of the knowledge on use and management of medicinal plants by local people in Kebena district was conducted from October 2020 to March 2021. The objective of the study was to gather and analyze information on the use, management and conservation of medicinal plants as well as status of indigenous knowledge of the local people. Data were gathered from local people, local healers and knowledgeable elders of the study area. A total of 80 informants (50 men and 30 women) aged between 25-80 years were selected via purposive and snowball sampling from ten Kebeles. Relevant information was collected by using semi-structured interview, market survey, field observation and focus group discussion. The Lamiaceae and Asteraceae stood first by contributing 6 (9.23%) species each; followed by Fabaceae and Solanaceae 5 (7.69%) species. From the total collected plants, 59 species were used for the treatment of 41 human ailments and 6 species were used to treat both livestock and human ailments. Herbs were the most utlized growth form followed by trees and shrubs. The most frequently used plant parts were leaves (46.05%). The common route of administration was oral (58%) followed by dermal and nasal. There were plants with higher informant consensus factor due to the wide range of human and livestock diseases that they are claimed to treat. There is high preference for Urtica simensis Steudel for treating anthrax, while paired comparison showed Lepidium sativum L. to be the most preferred species for treatment of human stomach ache. In addition, the apparent disinterest of the young generation in traditional medicine has become a major problem for the continuity of the knowledge of medicinal plants. The effort of local people in conserving medicinal plants is minimal since much of the medicinal plants were easily available and people have beendiscouraged to use traditional medicine. To tackle the depletion of knowledge from further loss and the loss of medicinal plants, recognition of traditional healers and cultivation of medicinal plants, participating government offices and NGOs is recommended
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Ethnobotany, Indigenous Knowledge, Medicinal Plants, Sampling, Multipurpose Species