Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants by the Ethnic Groups of Gondar Zuria District, North-Western Ethiopia

JOURNAL OF NATURAL REMEDIES Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants By the Ethnic Groups of Gondar Zuria District, North-western Ethiopia Zewdu Birhanu* Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, PO Box 196, University of Gondar, Ethiopia Abstract The aim of the study was to document informati on on medicinal plants and to describe the traditi onal health care practi ces of Gondar Zuria district, North-west Ethiopia. Field trip was made in each village of the district to collect ethnomedicinal informati on from the traditi onal healers by using semi-structured questi onnaire and ﬁ eld observati on. Forty-two plant species representi ng forty-one genera and thirty-one families were encountered during the study. Results of the study were analysed using two quanti tati ve tools: informant consensus factor for the analysis of general use of medicinal plants and ﬁ delity level for calculati ng the most frequently occurring diseases for the categories with the highest informant consensus factor. The result of the informant consensus factor showed that the general health category had the greatest agreement followed by the respiratory, malarial, and gastrointesti nal categories. The present study has documented curious ethno medicinal facts on the plant therapies currently uti lised in Gondar Zuriadistrict. Evaluati on of the pharmacological acti vity for the promising medicinal plant is suggested. Key words: Medicinal plants, traditi onal healers, Gondar Zuria district, Ethiopia 1. Introduction provide a vital cont ribution to human and livestock health care needs in the country.Th ere are 6,500 species It is estimated that about 25% of all modern medicines of higher plants in Ethiopia, making the country one are directly or indirectly derived from higher plants. of the most diverse fl oristic regions in the world. Led by instinct, taste, and experience, primitive men Ethiopian traditional life is painted with the hallmark of and women treated illness by using plants, animal parts, widespread use of medicinal plants with various levels and minerals that were not part of their usual diet. of sophistication within the indigenous medicinal lore, Indeed, well in to the twentieth century, much of the and the vast knowledge on traditional use ofmedicinal pharmacopoeia of scientifi c medicine was derived from plants is not fully documented; most of the knowledge is [1] the herbal lore of native people . conveyed from generation to generation through word In Ethiopia, 70% of human and 90% of livestock of mouth. Like many other Ethiopians, people in Gondar population depend on traditional medicine; Ethiopian Zuria district use plants for their primary healthcare. plants have shown very eff ective medicinal value for As is happening elsewhere in Ethiopia, the traditional some ailments of both human and domestic animals, knowledge as well as the plants used by these people is thus medicinal plants and knowledge of their use under threat mainly due to deforestation, degradation, *Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Zewdu Birhanu 47 and cultural shift [2–7]. With this background, a survey the interviews, demographic characteristics of the was conducted to document the indigenous knowledge participants and local names, used parts, and preparation of traditional healers in Gondar Zuria district. methods of eachmedicinal plant were recorded. In addition, the participants were asked to show the 2. Ethnography researcher these medicinal plants, and specimen of these plants were pressed in the fi eld and prepared for Gondar Zuria is one of the districts in north Gondar identifi cation. During the course of the study, each administration zone of Amhara regional state in North- informant was visited three times in order to verify the western Ethiopia. Gondar Zuria is bordered on the reliability of data obtained. If what was said during the south by the Debub Gondar zone, on the south-west fi rst visit concerning the use of a particular medicinal by Lake Tana, on the west by Dmbia, on the north by plant by an informant did not agree with what was said Lay Armachiho, on the north-east by Wogera, and on during the second or third visit, the information was the south-east by Mirab Belessa. Th e district has a considered unreliable and was rejected. Repeated visits total population of 1,91,394 of whom 97,388 are men also helped to gather additional information that was and 94,006 women, and 18,377 or 9.60% are urban not mentioned during earlier interviews. Th e interview inhabitants. With an area of 1,108.53 square kilometres, and discussions were conducted in Amharic.Th e plant with a population density of 172.66 which is greater than specimens implicated were identifi ed and stored in the zone average of 63.76 persons per square kilometre. the department of pharmacognosy.Vernacular names Th e majority of the inhabitants practised Ethhiopian for each medicinal plant were given in Amharic. Th e Orthodox Christianity (94.8%) and the rest being Muslim relative popularity of each medicinal plant species was (5.2%). Th e capital city of thedistrict is Makisegnet evaluated based on the proportion of informants who situated at 40 kilometres from Gondar, the capital city of independently reported its medicinal use (informant North Gondar administrative zone in Amhara regional consensus) in the area. For each species, the proportion state of Ethiopia. Th e district has an altitude range of of informants who independently reported its use against 1,740 to 2,080 metres above sea level. Th e major part a particular disease/disease category was also assessed of the district is rounded by hills and gentle slopes and fallowing[10,11]. partially surrounded by higher elevation. Th e offi cial language of the district is Amharic, the offi cial language 3.2 Quantitative Ethnobotany of the country.Th edistrict receives bimodal rainfall, with FIC (informant consensus factor) was used for the the short rains from March to May and the long rains analysis of general use of medicinal plants; the illnesses from June to September. However, most of the rainfall is were classifi ed into broad categories as follows: [8,9] received during the months of July and August . respiratory (asthma, common cold, cough, tonsillitis), gastrointestinal (amebiasis, ascariasis, tapewormand 3. Methodology other intestinal parasites, diarrhoea, PUD, gastritis, colic and cramp in GIT, stomachache), reproductive 3.1 Data Collection Process (impotence, abortion, gonorrhoea, oxytocic), Survey on medicinal plants was conducted from dermatological (wound, skin problem(chirt), wart, 21 September 2011 to 23 February 2012 to collect dandruff , tick and lice), cardiovascular (hypertension, ethnomedicinal information from traditional healers by oedema, bleeding), general health (general well-being, using semi-structured questionnaire [12]. In each village, condiment, nutritive, tissue builder), pain (headache, the local community leaders and all the informants were fracture, arthritis, fever, infl ammation), anti-venom informed about the purpose of the survey, and each (snakebite), malaria,rabies, diabetes mellitus, cancer, informant participated in the study with his own full and evil eye. consent. Th e questionnaire was administered only to Th e FIC was calculated as the number of use citations people who had knowledge of medicinal plants. During in each category (nur) minus the number of species Journal of Natural Remedies | ISSN: 2320-3358 www.jnronline.com | Vol 13 (1) | January 2013 48 Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants By the Ethnic Groups of Gondar Zuria District, North-western Ethiopia used (nt) and divided by number of use citations in each annum (eleven mentions),Withania somnifera (seven [11] category minus one .Th erefore, FIC=nur−nt/nur−1. mentions),and Triticum aestivum(three mentions) Th e fi delity level (FL), which is the ratio between the (FL=100 each) for the general health category. Zehneria number of informants who independently suggested scabra, Eucalyptus globules, Rhamnus prinoides, and the use of a species for the same major purpose and Citrus limon (FL=100 each) for the respiratory category. the total number of informants who mentioned the Th e most important species in the gastrointestinal plant for any use, was calculated for the most frequently category were Hagenia abyssinica, Bersama abyssinica, occurring diseases or ailments for the categories with the and Cucurbita pepo (FL=100 each). Datura stramonium highest FIC. and Catha edulis were the most important species for the dermatological and reproductive categories, respectively FL (%) = Np/N × 100 (FL=100 each). Here,Np is the number of informants that claimed a use of a plant species to treat a particular disease and N is the number of informants that used the plant as a 4.2 Correlation between Number of medicine to treat any given disease[12]. Uses Mentioned and Fidelity Level Th ese two tools helped to determine illness categories Th e categories of plants with the higher number of uses with higher representation (using FIC)and the plants mentioned (for one purpose) were correlated with their with major fi delity (using the FL). fi delity level (Table 1). Th e plants with higher number of uses mentioned for all categories were Zehneria scabra 4. Result and Discussion (twenty-one mentions) for febrile conditions and runny nose for the respiratory category, Hagenia abyssinica Th e present study has documented forty-two medicinal (four reports) for the gastrointestinal

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