Traditional use of medicinal plants in the Chyangthapu-Phalaicha biological sub-corridor, Panchthar District, Kangchenjunga Landscape, Nepal Prabin Bhandari (
[email protected] ) Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0199-8656 Min Bahadur Gurung Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University Chandra Kanta Subedi Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University Ram Prasad Chaudhary Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University Khadga Bahadur Basnet Tribhuvan University - Birat Science Campus Janita Gurung International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Lalitpur, Nepal Yadav Uprety Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal Ajay Neupane Tribhuvan University - Mechi Multiple Campus Krishna Kumar Shrestha Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal Research Keywords: Ethnobotany, Indigenous knowledge, Ailments/diseases, Quantitative analysis, East Nepal, East Himalaya Posted Date: October 28th, 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-96892/v1 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Page 1/26 Abstract Background: Chyangthapu-Phalaicha located in the northeastern Panchthar District, is a biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalaya. The area is dominated by the Kirat indigenous community. The present study was conducted to document the knowledge of the ethnomedicinal uses and practices that exist in the area before the associated socio-cultural knowledge on biological diversity is lost. Methods: Ethnomedicinal data were collected through three focus group discussions and 47 key informant interviews using semi-structured questionnaires. The importance of medicinal plant species was assessed using quantitative indices such as informant consensus factor, relative frequency of citation, relative importance, delity level and Rahman’s similarity index.