Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants of the Abohoy Gara Mountains, Northern Ethiopia

Introduction

For many years, medicinal plants have been used in Ethiopia to manage a wide range of diseases. Documenting use of the plants for traditional medicine is necessary bases for obtaining new lead bioactive plant based natural products for the discovery of allopathic drugs, preserving the associated local knowledge and medicinal plants. This study aimed to document ethnobotanical knowledge associated with medicinal plants, parts used, route of preparations, and mode of administration.

Methods

The study was conducted from February 2017 to March 2018. The data were collected by interviewing 177 (139 male and 38 female) informants. Semistructured interviews, group discussions, guided field waks and quantitative approaches, such as informant consensus factors and ranking were used to collect and quantify the data. The data were analysed using Microsoft Excel, t test and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results

A total of 57 medicinal plant species belonging to 51 genera in 36 families were used by local people to prevent various ailments. The Asteraceae was the dominant family contributing the greatest number of medicinal plants. Leaves were the most widely used plant parts for treating human ailments (20, 56.7 %). Most of the collected traditional medicinal plants were used for treating human ailments directly (11, 28 %), while crushing was the most common method of preparation for treating livestock ailments (42, 70.2 %). Half of the herbal medicines were prepared for internal use, accounting for 31 (54.4 %). The findings showed that Cynoglossum coeruleum was the most preferred species for treating febrilosis, accounting for 33 cases. The highest informant consensus factor (0.83) was obtained for diseases related to febrilosis, and the lowest (0.56) was obtained for diseases associated with livestock (leech infestation and ectoparasites).

Conclusions

This study showed that medicinal plants in the study area, coupled with rich indigenous knowledge, were used by a large member of the population and are the most important means of treating some common ailments. However, medicinal plants in the study district are under pressure due to both natural and anthropogenic influences. Hence, the declining medicinal plants in the area require the application of complementary on-site and off-site conservation approaches.