Ethnobotany of Medicinal Plants Used by Rakhine Indigenous Communities in Patuakhali and Barguna District of Southern Bangladesh

Abstract

An extensive study has been made to identify, document, and investigate the ethnomedicinal plants used by Rakhine ethnic minorities in Patuakhali and Barguna District of southern Bangladesh for the term of April 2018 to June 2019. In this article, we have focused on the Rakhine population trends, management concerns, and some actions for conserving the Rakhine population diversity in the study area. In this study, we have identified the locations where Rakhine population lives in Patuakhali and Barguna districts. A total of 86 plant species belonging to 71 genera and 43 families were reported to be used for treating more than 57 various physical ailments under 14 illness categories from the study area. For each of the species, the botanic name, common name, Rakhine name, family, habit, parts used and traditional medicinal uses of the plant species have been presented. The maximum numbers of ethnomedicinal plant species were utilized to treat gastrointestinal complaints (43) taken after by the treatment of dermatological issues (36). The highly cited (75.60%) plant species were found to be Ananas comosus and Aegle marmelos used for gastro-intestinal (Stomach pain, indigestion, and dysentery) digestive disorders and subsequently followed by Colocasia esculenta (70.73%) used for cut, bleeding and wound healing. The results of this study have shown that Rakhine indigenous communities still depend on conventional plant-based medication to remedy various diseases and therapeutic purposes in the study area. Our findings have also shown that despite there have adequate phytodiversity in the natural habitat of the study area but the number of Rakhine population has been declining significantly day-by-day. As an ultimate result, we have lost the plant-based traditional medicinal knowledge of Rakhine indigenous communities in Bangladesh. As a rich source of traditional knowledge and cultural diversity, it calls for urgent initiatives to conserve the cultural heritage of the Rakhine community as well as the diversity of Rakhine ethnic group.

Keywords: Rakhine indigenous community; conservation; ethnobotany; medicinal plant; traditional knowledge; traditional medicine.

Figure 1.

Detailed study area map showing the locations covered the fieldwork.

Figure 2.

Data collection and field interview with A) General Rakhine and B) Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs).

Figure 3.

Habit-wise analysis of therapeutic plant species utilized by Rakhine people in the study area.

Figure 4.

Family-wise distribution of medicinal plant species in the study area.

Figure 5.

Plant parts used of studied medicinal plants species by the Rakhine community in the study area.

Figure 6.

Conservation status of the reported plant species according to IUCN red list categories and criteria.

Figure 7.

Photos of the vulnerable medicinal plant species in the study area. (A) Garcinia cowa, (B) Syzygium jambos, (C) Nypa fruticans, (D) Dillenia indica, (E) Bombax ceiba, (F) Terminalia arjuna.