Phytotherapeutic formulations of three small time folk herbalists of Tangail district, Bangladesh

Abstract

Folk herbalists (FHs) can be defined as part-time or small time folk medicinal practitioners (FMPs), whose practice involves one or two formulations and the same number of diseases. Although in theory, their practices may not be worth documenting, yet in reality their formulations often contain novel uses of plants, which previously had not been reported. The objective of this study was to document the phyto therapeutic practices of three FHs of Tangail district, Bangladesh. It was observed that the three FHs between themselves used only five plants distributed into five families for treatment of weakness, heart disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, fever, and acne. The flower of one plant (which was not indigenous but brought from Saudi Arabia) was used to expedite delivery. The use of three other plants was also quite novel. The study not only uncovers some new therapeutic uses of Bangladesh plants, but also points out that traditional phytotherapy may also involve plants from other regions outside Bangladesh.