Ethnomedicinal Study of Plants in Begumgonj, Noakhali, Bangladesh

Backgraound: The aim of this study was to document and preserve the ethnomedicinal knowledge used by traditional healers of Begumganj upazila, Bangladesh, to treat human diseases and evaluate the relative ecacy of the medicinal plants. Methods: The uses of medicinal plants were documented as an ethnomedicinal data sheet using direct observation, eld interview, plant interview and group interview techniques from December 2012 to January 2014 in the study area. Data were collected from 98 traditional healers through a questionnaire survey and analyzed through informant consensus factor and delity level. Results: Overall, 75 plant species under 71 genera of 47 families were documented, which are used to treat 41 diseases. Data analysis revealed that 41.33%, 14.67%, 36% and 8% of the medicinal plant species were herbs, shrubs, trees, and climbers, respectively. Leaves were the most used parts, followed by stem, root, fruit, bark, latex and rhizome. The most frequently treated diseases were dysentery, rheumatism and skin diseases. Conclusions: This is the rst ethnobotanical survey, which recorded the importance of medicinal plants in Begumgonj upazila, Bangladesh. This study can contribute to preserving the indigenous knowledge on the traditional use of medicinal plants in this region and attract future generations towards traditional healing practice. December 2012 to January 2014 in the study area. Overall, 11 eld trips were conducted in various owering seasons and 75 interviews from 98 local informants were recorded. Audio recordings were saved using a digital voice recorder. Additionally, ethnomedicinal information was obtained through informal interviews using semi-structured and structured techniques. Local persons of various age groups, mostly between 25 and 84 years, were interviewed, including herbal practitioners (termed as Kabiraj). The interview was based on health problems, their diagnosis, treatment methods, local name of the medicinal plant used, the source of collection (wild or cultivated), plant parts used, and methods of preparation and application. Depending on the response, more specic questions concerning the types of uses were gradually formulated. To ensure that the information was as unbiased as possible, it was tried to avoid the presence of other people during the interviews. Participant observation such as age and education level was accomplished to increase reliability in our experimental data when the information from the local practitioners was collected. All information regarding plant species, local names, family, habit and treatment mode was documented. Informant’s data on their background and the medicinal plants used in Begumganj were schematically recorded in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. and of including exotic monoculture plantations; agricultural development; of for

All plant specimens were collected in both owering and fruiting conditions. In case of no owering and fruiting, plant twigs with few leaves were collected for proper identi cation with the help of local practitioners of ayurvedic medicine (called vaidyas) and knowledgeable persons to ascertain the correct identi cation of plants and to obtain information on their habit. Knowledgeable informants plays a signi cant role in ethnobotany [20]. Samples of medicinal plants were collected through repeated eld trips during documentation. Voucher specimens were prepared and deposited in the taxonomic laboratory of the Chittagong University Herbarium (CTGUH). The scienti c identi cation was done by Professor Dr. Shaikh Bokhtear Uddin, Department of Botany, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. In some cases, standard literature [21][22][23][24][25][26] was referred for the identi cation of species. Identi ed plant species were cross-checked with the 'Dictionary of Plant Names of Bangladesh (vascular plants) ' [3], and on websites of The Plant List (TPL) and International Plant Name Index (IPNI) for recent nomenclature of all specimens and author citations.
Informants consensus factor (F IC ) Informant's consensus factor was calculated to determine the homogeneity in the information given by the informants. The F IC is calculated using the following formula [27,28]: F IC = (N ur -N t ) / (N ur -1) where N ur is the number of use report in a particular disease category by informants, and N t is the number of taxa or species used to treat the particular disease category by the informants.

Fidelity level (FL) value
The FL, the percentage of informants claiming the use of certain plants for the same major purpose was calculated according to the following formula [18,19]: where Np is the number of informants who independently suggested the use of a plant species for a particular disease, and N is the total number of informants who mentioned the same plant for any disease.

Results And Discussion
Demographic feature A total of 98 informants (54 males and 44 females) aged between 25 and 84 years were interviewed, in which 55.10% were males and 44.90% were females.
The most number of informants was in the age group 45-64 years (Fig. 2). The illiteracy rate was 38.8%. Among the literate people, 29.6%, 19.4%, 10.2% and 2.0% had completed education up to primary, middle, secondary and university level, respectively (Table 1).

Phytodiversity, utilisation and its application
In the present ethnomedicinal survey, 75 species under 71 genera of 47 families were documented (Table 2), which are used for treating 41 types of disease.
The most frequently used families as per the number of species are Asteraceae, Moraceae, Araceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Rutaceae. Analysis of the data based on habits showed that among the highly used plants, 41% were herbs, and 14.67%, 36% and 8% were shrubs, trees, and climbers, respectively (Fig. 3). Among the ethnomedicinal plants, 57.33% of the species were naturally growing, whereas 42.67% species were cultivated or planted. For each species, botanical name, local name (Bangla name), family, biological forms and treatment mode are presented in Table 3.

Plant parts
Among the recorded species, analysis of parts used revealed that leaves were the most used plant parts (50%), followed by stem (8.75%), root (7.5%), fruit (6.25%), bark (6.25%), latex (5%), rhizome (5%), whole plant (5%), seed (3.75%) and ower (2.5%) (Fig. 4). Herbal preparations can be made from roots, rhizomes, barks, stems or whole plant, which affect mother plants when they are collected [29]. However, in the present study area, this threat was minimal because leaves were the most frequently used plant parts for medicinal purposes. It was observed that the collection of bark and whole plant as the medicinal part from the wild were not sustainable. According to local people, this type of activity is conducted by the collectors related to illegal trade of medicinal plants. Oroxylum indicum, Ricinus communis, Centella asiatica, Commelina benghalensis, Eclipta prostrata, and Scoparia dulcis are vulnerable to such activity in the study area.

Forms of medication
The most frequently used form of medication was juice (50.65%), followed by paste (20.78%), raw form (10.38%), infusion (3.90%), powder (3.90%), cooked form (3.90%), tablet (2.60%), ointment (2.60%), and syrup (1.30%) (Fig. 5). A plant preparation was turned into a herbal medicine in the form of juice, paste, tablet or ointment by mixing it in various food items, spices, or oil. Both external and internal modes of application of herbal medicine have been prescribed.
Consequently, oral administration was predominant. Mostly, local herbalists prescribed fresh plant material as a source of herbal medicine. Usually, they do not store the herbal preparation.
The most commonly used plant species in the study area were Aphanamixis polystachya, Azadirachta indica, Blumea lacera, Calotropis gigantea, Centella asiatica, Coccinia grandis, Eclipta prostrata, Kalanchoe pinnata, Lawsonia inermis, Litsea monopetala, Mikania micrantha, Ocimum basilicum, Oroxylum indicum, Scoparia dulcis, Psidium guajava, Stephania japonica, Streblus asper, Terminalia arjuna, Vitex negundo and Zingiber o cinale. The recorded species in this study were previously recorded from various areas of Bangladesh as ethnomedicinal species [22,26,30]. However, the present study recorded seven new ethnomedicinal observations in Bangladesh. They are Pithecellobium dulce to treat dysentery, Stephania japonica to treat heart disease, Smilax ovalifolia to treat vertigo, leaves of Nymphoides indica and latex of Phoenix sylvestris to treat burns, leaves of Leea indica to treat skin diseases and Lasia spinosa to treat jaundice. Establishment of modern healthcare centres is in progress in many rural areas; this may gradually change the existing pattern of indigenous knowledge systems of healthcare [5]. Field observations and discussion with local people demonstrated that the diversity of ethnomedicinal plant species and traditional knowledge of the area is at great risk because of threats including habitat destruction; exotic monoculture plantations; agricultural development; degradation of village groves and construction of buildings for housing, commercial farms and industry.
The ethnomedicinal plants of the study area exhibited diverse habitats, such as homestead area, cultivated land, scrub jungles, fallow lands, and wetland. The present generation is losing interest to continue their parental profession because it does not provide them proper nancial support for their livelihood [5,7].
Hence, the documentation of these traditional uses of plant species as herbal medicine is essential before they disappear permanently.

Use reports and F IC
In the ethnomedicinal studies, informant's consensus analysis provides a measure of consistency for the given claim of evidence [31]. The studied upazila had a signi cant variety of plants with traditional uses against diseases. A total of 41 diseases were grouped into 13 therapeutic categories based on the information gathered from the interviews ( Table 4).
The F IC was calculated for each ailment category, and the range was from 0.71 to 0.91. Given results of the F IC showed that the category of hormonal disorder had the highest value with 0.91%, wherein the root of Bombax ceiba and whole plant of Eclipta prostrata were reported by the informants to be used for treating sexual diseases and leucorrhoea, respectively. The root of Bombax ceiba is used for treating impotency, gonorrhoea and improving the functionality of the sexual organ [32,33]. The second highest F IC value (0.87%) was calculated for endocrine disorder category, which included the reported use of Coccinia grandis, Ficus racemosa, and Syzygium cumini. These three plant species have anti-diabetic property [34][35][36][37][38][39]. The similar F IC value (0.85%) was exhibited by cardiovascular and respiratory system disorders. Gastrointestinal disorders, dental care and liver or hepatobiliary disorders exhibited the value as 0.83%. The category of external injury or bleeding and burn wound exhibited the lowest F IC value. This study implied that the medicinal plants for treating several ailments is still in practice by different indigenous people and it can attract future generations towards traditional healing practice.

FL value
For each of the 14 most commonly used plant species as ranked by the informants, the FL (Table 5) was calculated to quantify their importance in treating a major ailment [40,41]. The remedies for frequently reported ailments have the highest FL values, and those with a low number of reports have the lowest FL values [42]. This study showed a high FL of >60% for 9 plant species, which highlighted the importance of these species in the treatment of the frequently mentioned diseases in the study area. The highest FL value (93.3%) was exhibited by Cynodon dactylon, followed by Aegle marmelos (88.9%), and Paederia foetida (81.8%), ( Table 5). The high FL levels for these species indicated their outstanding preference for treating most of the gastrointestinal disorders and haemorrhages. Additionally, Nyctanthes arbor-tristis (77.8%), Coccinia grandis (75.0%), and Lawsonia inermis (75.0%) had high FL values (Table 5)      Justicia adhatoda L.

KMA-236
Bashok Acanthaceae Shrub Wild Leaves Juice prepared from crushed leaves is taken to treat asthma, polydypsia and vomiting.

KMA-201
Pathorkuchi Crassulaceae Herb Wild Leaves Juice prepared from the crushed leaves is taken to treat hot ash.     Figure 1 Map of the study area showing various unions and collecting sites Note: The designations employed and the presentation of the material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Research Square concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. This map has been provided by the authors. Forms of medication