AMERICAN-EURASIAN JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ISSN: 1995-0748, EISSN: 1998-1074 2018, volume(12),issue(1):pages(22-29) DOI: 10.22587/aejsa.2018.12.1.4 Published Online inAprilhttp://www.aensiweb.com/AEJSA/ Ethnobotanical Study of Munshiganj in Shyamnagar Upazilla, Satkhira, Bangladesh 1Tama Ray and2Kingson Mondal 1Tama Ray, Co- Founder, Conservation Club, Khulna, Bangladesh. 2Kingson Mondal, Founder, Conservation Club, Khulna, Bangladesh. Received date: 10 January 2018, Accepted date: 28 March 2018, Online date: 4 April 2018 Address For Correspondence: Tama Ray, Khulna University, Forestry and Wood Technology, Khulna- 9208, Khulna , Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected] Copyright © 2018 by authors and American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ABSTRACT Background: Bangladesh is very rich in floral diversification having almost 5000 species; but the thing is that the existence of floral community is now at stake due to diminishing knowledge of the local people about the uses and importance of plant species as the societies are going through a changing lifestyle; as a result, they are showing harsh behavior to the plant population to fulfill their satisfaction. Objective: In our study, we tried to document the species’ availability, composition and diversity of the study area as well as the ethnobotanical knowledge of the people residing there about the uses of plant species in order to transfer that knowledge from generation to generation for helping in the long-term plant species conservation. Results: 44 species under 27 families were cited by the interviewee and 25 species out of 44 have food value which is the highest use value of all categories (Food, Construction, Medicine, Fuelwood and Other). To understand the diversity and significance of the species in that area, ‘Use Value’ and ‘Fidelity Level’ were calculated where the ‘Use Value’ ranges from 0.01 to 0.5 and ‘Fidelity Level’ is from 50% to 100%.Conclusion: Diversity, composition and significance of plant species of Munshiganj area have been identified through the analysis of empirical methods ‘Use value’ and ‘Fidelity level’ as well as documentation of ethnobotanical knowledge of the local people about the versatile uses of plant species has been prepared. The result will provide us a scenario of the interaction of the local people with plant species and the traditional ethnobotanical knowledge will help to retain their surrounding green environment. KEY WORDS Munshiganj, Ethnobotanical investigation, Use value category, Use value, Fidelity level. INTRODUCTION Plants are the base of life on this beautiful earth where plants support human being with life- supporting oxygen and livelihood [20] as well as they are the source of food, forage, medicines, house construction, firewood, sleeping mats and shade along with ritual and commercial elements and so on [8]. In this way, plants and people are sharing a close natural relationship among themselves [21] called ‘Ethnobotany’ [6]. This traditional ethnobotanical knowledge is forming an interaction with the practices of the people that helps to shape the ecosystem and affects the management of our surrounding plant populations [7]. Shyamnagarupazila is a sub district of Satkhira district (22°19.8' N, 89°6.2' E) [1] [3] which is well recognized for its vulnerability to natural disasters and considered as the most vulnerable upazilla of the cost [3]. Munshiganj is one of the unions among 11 unions of Shyamnagarupazilla which is situated by the side of the Sundarbans and its southern part is covered by the Sundarbans mangrove forest [4]. The livelihoods of coastal people are highly dependent on natural resources [9]. Different disasters like cyclone, monsoon storm, riverbank erosion, salinity intrusion, expansion of settlement, industry and infrastructure as well as degradation of the ecosystem are the common affairs in that region. [3]. So, societies are going through different transitions of lifestyle, such as growth of population, their crowding and migration as well as habitat degradation, land encroachment, biological incursions, climate change, different epidemiological hazards, imported technologies, AMERICAN-EURASIAN JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE. 12(1) January2018, Pages: 22-29 Tama Ray and Kingson Mondal,2018 23 schooling, mass media, religious conversion, cultural imperialism, changing perception, as well as utilization, management and extraction of natural resources and so on. As a result, local communities are trying to adopt with shifting life conditions and a drastic change is occurring between human and floral community [35]. That is why, ethnobotanical knowledge conservation is very important [32] [2] to identify the plants perceived by the people through their mode of usage [23]. As traditional ethnobotanical knowledge is a fast-growing field of science and people with the varying academic environment are showing interests in this research [12], several studies of [5] [16] [17] [19] [22] [24] [25] [26] [28] [29] [30] [31] [33] [34] and so on have been found in which they tried to document the ethnic medicinal values of plant species of Bangladesh in order to preserve and transmit ethnobotanical knowledge. But in most cases, ethnomedicinal documentation has got priority though other uses of plant species are equally important to perceive the plants in our society. That’s why, we have tried to make a documentation of all indigenous uses of plant species for the conservation of both cultural and biological diversities of plants [8]. Methodology: Our study was carried out in Munshiganj union (22°14′-22°17′ N- 89°04′-89°12′of ShyamnagarUpazilla under Sathkhira division. The area is very close to Sundarbans and its southern part is covered by the forest[3]. Three villages named ‘PurbaKalinagar’, ‘CetreKalinagar’ and Dakshin Kadamtola of Munshiganj union were selected for ethnobotanical investigation. A semi-structured questionnaire was prepared and the data was collected through questionnaire survey and informal interview. Total 90 households were chosen randomly as the sample (30 from each village). The voucher specimen was collected for proper identification. Fig. 1: Location of Munshiganj, Shyamnagar, Satkhira (Source: http://www.thebangladesh.net/upazilas-of- satkhira/shyamnagar-upazila.html After data collection, data were categorized according to use category (food, construction, medicine, fuelwood and other). Use value (UVs) and Fidelity level (FL) were calculated to show the diversity and significance of the use of species. Higher Fidelity Level indicates extensive use of plant species by the local people [14]. 24 UVs = ∑iUVis / ns UVisis the number of use reports mentioned by the informants for that particular plant species and ns is the total number of informants participated in our study. FL= Ip/ Iu x 100 IP is the number of informants stating the use of a species for a particular use and Iu is the number of informants stating the use of that plant for any sort of use. Higher FL value indicates more frequent use of a given species for the particular ailment [14] [10] [32]. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Cited Species: Total 90 people were interviewed of that area and 44 species of 27 families were mentioned by them. Table 1 and Figure 1 represents name and distribution of the species according to their family. Table 1: Name of species according to their family Family Name of Species Family Name of Species Acanthaceae Adhatodavasica Bombax ceiba Anacardiaceae Mangifera Indica Malvaceae Gossypium arboretum Apiaceae Centellaasiatica Azadiractaindica Apocynaceae Calotropis gigantean Meliaceae Swieteniamahagony Arecaceae Phoenix sylvestris Moraceae Artocarphusheterophyllus Borassusflaballifer Moringaceae Moringa oleifera NypaFruticans Musaceae Musa spp. Phoenix paludosa Psidium guajava Caricaceae Carica papaya Syzygiumcumini Combretaceae Terminalia catappa Syzygiumsamarangense Ebenaceae Diospyros peregrine Myrtaceae Eucalyptus obliqua Elaeocarpaceae Elaeocarpus robustus Palmae Cocos nucifera Euphorbiaceae Excoecariaagallocha Phyllanthaceae Phyllanthus acidus Fabaceae Tamarindus indicus Poaceae Bambusa spp. Albizialebbeck Rhamnaceae Zizyphusmauritiana Acacia auriculiformis Aegle marmelos Vachellianilotica Feronia limonia Pithecellobium dulce Citrus aurantifolia Lamiaceae Ocimumtenuiflorum Rutaceae Citrus grandis Lythraceae Lawsoniainermis Sapindaceae Lichichinensis Punicagranatum Sapotaceae Manilkarazapota Sonneratiaapetala Sterculiaceae Heritierafomes Among 27 families, Fabaceae has the highest number of species (5). Areceae and Myrtaceae represents second highest number of species, that is 4. Fig. 2: Distribution of species according to their familyUses of plant species Table 2: Uses of species under major use category Plant Use Local Name Scientific Name Food Construction Medicine Fuel Wood Other Narikel Cocos nucifera x x x Kola Musa spp. x Khejur Phoenix sylvestris x x Aam Mangifera Indica x Katbadam Terminalia catappa x Mehedi Lawsoniainermis x 25 Peyera Psidium guajava x Sundri Heritierafomes x Bel Aegle marmelos x x Tetul Tamarindus indicus x x Shirish Albizialebbeck x Neem Azadiractaindica x Jam Syzygiumcumini x Sobeda Manilkarazapota x Kul Zizyphusmauritiana x Jarmul Syzygiumsamarangense x Mehogany Swieteniamahagony x Kadbel Feronia limonia x Nol Phyllanthus acidus Eucalyptus Eucalyptus obliqua x x Taal Borassusflaballifer x Gab Diospyros