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. 2016 Feb 4:9:67.
doi: 10.1186/s13104-015-1827-z.

Ethnobotanical perspective of antimalarial plants: traditional knowledge based study

Abdul Qayum  1   2 , Rakesh Arya  3 , Andrew M Lynn  4
Affiliations

Ethnobotanical perspective of antimalarial plants: traditional knowledge based study

Abdul Qayum et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Background: Considering the demand of antimalarial plants it has become essential to find and locate them for their optimal extraction. The work aims to find plants with antimalarial activities which were used by the local people; to raise the value of traditional knowledge system (TKS) prevalent in the study region; to compile characteristics of local plants used in malaria treatment (referred as antimalarial plants) and to have its spatial distribution analysis to establish a concept of geographical health.

Methods: Antimalarial plants are listed based on literature survey and field data collected during rainy season, from 85 respondents comprised of different ethnic groups. Ethno-medicinal utilities of plants was extracted; botanical name, family, local name, part used, folklore, geographical location and image of plants were recorded after cross validating with existing literatures. The interview was trifurcated in field, Vaidya/Hakims and house to house. Graphical analysis was done for major plants families, plant part used, response of people and patients and folklore. Mathematical analysis was done for interviewee's response, methods of plant identification and people's preferences of TKS through three plant indices.

Results: Fifty-one plants belonging to 27 families were reported with its geographical attributes. It is found plant root (31.75 %) is used mostly for malaria treatment and administration mode is decoction (41.2 %) mainly. The study area has dominance of plants of family Fabaceae (7), Asteraceae (4), Acanthaceae (4) and Amaranthaceae (4). Most popular plants found are Adhatoda vasica, Cassia fistula and Swertia chirata while % usage of TKS is 82.0 % for malaria cure.

Conclusion: The research findings can be used by both scientific community and common rural people for bio-discovery of these natural resources sustainably. The former can extract the tables to obtain a suitable plant towards finding a suitable lead molecule in a drug discovery project; while the latter can meet their local demands of malaria, scientifically.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Location of study area
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Schematic flowchart for the identification of antimalarial plants
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Graphical analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Qayum A, Lynn A, Arya R. Traditional knowledge system based GIS mapping of antimalarial plants: spatial distribution analysis. J Geogr Inf Syst. 2014
    1. Verma AK, Kumar M, Bussmann RW. Medicinal plants in an urban environment: the medicinal flora of Banares Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2007;3:35. doi: 10.1186/1746-4269-3-35. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme: Malaria situation in India. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Delhi. Govt. of India. http://www.nvbdcp.gov.in/Doc/malaria1.pdf.
    1. Qayum A, Lynn AM, Arya R, Jaiswal SK. GIS integrated epidemiological indices for risk area identification towards malaria control measures. IJEAT. 2013;2(6):376–381.
    1. National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme: Guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of malaria in India 2009.

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