Ethnomedicinal uses of herbs by indigenous medicine practitioners of Jhenaidah district, Bangladesh

Abstract

Since ancient time, the tradition of ethnomedicine practice has been established in Bangladesh and such medicine practitioners are called Kavirajes. Kavirajes generally work with different plants, particular parts of plants, plant extracts or use extract in different combination. But in spite of its acceptance, the knowledge of Kavirajes on ethnomedicine are not properly documented and preserved. The present survey deals with works four Kavirajes of Jhenaidah district involving 45 herbs as remedy of different diseases. The majority of the herbs belong to Fabaceae, followed by Cucurbitaceae, Liliaceae, Piperaceae and others. Bulb, bark, cord, fruits, flower, leaf, root, rhizome, seed pulp, seed oil, stem and even the whole plant were used for medicinal purposes. The proportion of use of different parts, however, was observed as leaf 35%, fruits 22.20%, roots, seeds 13.30% each; stem 11.10% and whole plant 8.90%. The indigenous practitioners indicated dilution, dose, administration time in their prescription and mixture played a key role in need of combinations of useful extracts. In some cases, carrier materials show a significant function. Knowledge of the ethnomedicine practitioners, if nurtured through proper analysis, quality assessment and with advance researches, would be an asset for treating and preventing diseases of the rural people at minimum cost.