Traditional Plant uses and Indigenous Knowledge in Ethnobotany

Abstract

Malaria, diabetes, tetanus, and pneumonia were the top four diseases for which locals had an understanding of medicinal plants (40%+), followed by arteriosclerosis (10%), trachoma (5%), smallpox (5%), rheumatic fever (5%), and gout (5%). People in the area were more than twice as likely to know that roots may be used as a medicine than they were to know that fruits, bark, bulbs, or flowers could do the same. There is an urgent need to document and transmit this knowledge from one generation to the next because of the community's dependence on traditional medicinal plants. One strategy for reaching this objective is to compile a database of useful plants for medicine and study.The identification of the active ingredient in a medicine from voucher samples is a crucial but time-consuming part of any ethnobotanical study. However, biochemical analysis was used to separate the active components of two plants. The research on traditional treatments is meant to inform mainstream medicine. The identification of the active elements of indigenous remedies may lead to a synthesis of modern and traditional medicine.