Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used against human ailments in Gubalafto District ...

29 Pages·2017·0.98 MB·English

by  Getnet Chekole

ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55
DOI10.1186/s13002-017-0182-7
RESEARCH Open Access
Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants
used against human ailments in Gubalafto
District, Northern Ethiopia
Getnet Chekole
Abstract
Background: TraditionalmedicinalplantspeciesdocumentationisverycrucialinEthiopiaforbiodiversity
conservation,bioactivechemicalextractionsandindigenousknowledgeretention.Havingfirstobservedthe
inhabitantsofGubalafto District (Northern Ethiopia), the author gathered, recorded, and documented the
human traditional medicinal plant species and the associated indigenous knowledge.
Methods: The study was conducted from February 2013 to January 2015 and used descriptive field survey
design. Eighty-four informants were selected from seven study kebeles (sub-districts) in the District through
purposive, snowball, and random sampling techniques. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected
through semi-structured interviews, guided field walks, demonstrations, and focus group discussions with the
help of guided questions. Data were organized and analyzed by descriptive statistics with SPSS version 20
and Microsoft Office Excel 2007.
Results: Atotalof135medicinalplantspecieswithin120generaand64familiesweredocumented.Amongthe
species,OcimumlamiifoliumandRhamnusprinoidesscoredthehighestinformantcitationsandfidelitylevelvalue,
respectively.Inthestudyarea,Asteraceaewith8.1%andherbswith50.4%plantspecieswerethemostusedsources
fortheirmedicinaluses.Atotalof65ailmentswereidentifiedasbeingtreatedbytraditionalmedicinalplants,among
whichstomachache(abdominalhealthproblems)wasfrequentlyreported.Solanumincanumwasreportedforthe
treatmentofmanyofthereporteddiseases.Theleaf,freshparts,andcrushedformsofthemedicinalplantswerethe
mostpreferredinremedypreparations.Oralapplicationwasthehighestreportedadministrationfor110preparations.
Amajorityofmedicinalplantspeciesexistedinthewildwithoutanyparticularconservationeffort.Fewinformants
(about5%)hadonlybriefnotesaboutthetraditionalmedicinalplants.Ninetypercentoftherespondentshavelearned
indigenousmedicinalplantsknowledgefromtheirfamilymembersandfriendssecretly.OrthodoxChurchschools
werefoundthemainplacefor65%ofhealer’sindigenousknowledgeoriginandexperiences.Elders,agedbetween40
and84years,gavedetaileddescriptionsabouttraditionalmedicinalplants.
Conclusions:Traditionalmedicinalplantsandassociatedindigenousknowledgearethemainsystemstomaintain
humanhealthinGubalaftoDistrict.Butminimalconservationmeasureswererecordedinthecommunity.Thus,in-situ
andex-situconservationpracticesandsustainableutilizationarerequiredintheDistrict.
Keywords:Healer,Indigenousknowledge,Traditionalplantmedicines
Correspondence:[email protected]
DepartmentofBiology,CollegeofNaturalandComputationalSciences,
UniversityofGondar,P.O.Box196,Gondar,Ethiopia
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ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page2of29
Background town of the District. Woldia is about 506 km far from
People have long histories on the uses of traditional me- AddisAbaba,andthemainroadcrossittoMekele,Des-
dicinal plants for medical purposes in the world, and sie, Bahir Dar, and Lalibela towns. It consists of 34
nowadays, this is highly actively promoted [1–3]. kebeles, and it is situated between 39° 12′ 9″–39° 45′
Evidence from Kibebew [4] showed that traditional 58″ East and 11° 34′ 54″–11° 58′ 59″ North (Fig. 1).
medicines are used by 75–90% of the rural population in The topography of the District ranges between 1100 and
the world. The report from the World Health 3700mabovesealevel(m.a.s.l)andmostlycharacterized
Organization [5] revealed that traditional medicinal by a chain of mountains (35%), undulations (30%), flats
plants were trusted primarily by 80% of the population (20%), and gorges/valleys (15%). In addition, Gubalafto
in Africa. Traditional medicines are more liked in devel- District is classified into four agro-ecological zones
oping countries due to inadequate modern health ser- based on their altitudinal variation and climatic condi-
vices. In Ethiopia, the use of traditional plant medicines tions. These are lowlands (1100–1500 m.a.s.l), middle
had been practiced since the ancient time [6]. In North- lands (1500–2300 m.a.s.l), highlands (2300–3200), and
ern Ethiopia, the major portions (87%) of the traditional peaks (3200–3700 m.a.s.l.). These agro-ecological zones
medicines are coming from plant sources [7]. However, were also known by the people as Kolla, Woina Dega,
the traditional medicines are far from the expected level Dega, and Wurch, respectively. The mean values of an-
of uses, safety, and efficacy in the world [8, 9]. In nualtemperature range from 7.5to22.8°Candtherain-
Ethiopia, the bulk of the medicinal plants were collected fall from 22.8 to 203.7 mm in the form of bimodal (rain
from natural vegetation, and nowadays, natural vegeta- available in two seasons in a year) [11]. Gubalafto
tion is shrinking due to environment degradation and District has 139, 825 total population, of which 50.6%
overuses. Therefore, it is necessary to document medi- are men and 49.4% women [12]. About 3.49% of the
cinal plant species for conservation and sustainable con- population lives in the urban area, and the remaining
sumption. In addition, ethnobotanical studies on 96.51%, in the rural area. People mainly depend on agri-
traditional medicinal plants are also the means to in- culture for their livelihoods. There are 51 health centers,
crease the capacity of the pharmaceutical industries. of which 9 of them are private and 42 are governmental
However, the documented medicinal plants are still lim- centers in the District. Acute febrile illness, acute upper
ited when they are compared with the multi-cultural di- respiratory infection, dyspepsia, diarrhea, pneumonia,
versity of the people and the diverse flora in Ethiopia helminthiasis, diseases of the muscular and skeletal sys-
[10]. In Gubalafto District, the people live in places tem, trauma, urinary tract infection, infections of the
which are grouped into peaks, highlands, middle lands, skin, and subcutaneous tissues are the ten major mor-
and low lands. In such diverse environments, traditional bidity diseasesrecorded intheDistrict[13].
medicinal plant species and their uses are expected to be
more. However, no scientific documentation on the me-
dicinal plant resources has so far been made in Studysitesandinformantselectiontechniques
Gubalafto District. If any cultural changes take place in Study sites and informants were selected based on the in-
this community and the vegetation is degraded due to formationgathered from GubalaftoDistrict administration
variousfactors,theknowledgeofthepeople ontheplant office, healthoffice, agricultural office, and other people in
resourcewillvanish slowly.Moreover,someofthemedi- the study area via reconnaissance survey prior to the data
cinal plant species may become extinct from the District collection. Accordingly, seven kebeles, namelyKoso-amba,
before being documented and the people may lose their Ahuntegegn,Woyneye,Geshober,Amaye-mecha,Gubarja,
uses and their indigenous knowledge on them forever. and Hara were selected for data collection with purposive
Therefore, the ethnomedicinal study on the plants of sampling method based on their agro-ecological condi-
Gubalafto is crucial in order to protect the plants under tions, the availability of traditional medicine practitioners,
ex-situ and in-situ conservation and to preserve the as- and vegetation covers (Fig. 1). Eighty-four informants (12
sociated indigenous knowledge in the District and be- from each kebele) both males and females, whose ages
yond. Thus, the author documented the traditional ranged from 20 to 90 years were interviewed during the
medicinal plant species and the associated indigenous study. Informants were selected with purposive, snowball
knowledge used for the treatment of human ailments in (non-probability),andrandom(probability)samplingtech-
GubalaftoDistrict. niques following previous publications [14–16]. The pur-
posive sampling technique was used due to the fact that
Methods therewerehealers that had an official permission for their
Descriptionofthestudyarea traditional healthcare practices. Information regarding
Gubalafto District is found in North Wollo Zone, healers was obtained from each sampled kebele health
Amhara region, Ethiopia, by which Woldia is the main offices and other people. On the contrary, the snowball
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page3of29
a
c
b
Fig.1Mapofthestudyarea.aLocationofGubalaftoDistrictinEthiopian.bSampledandnon-sampledkebelesinGubalaftoDistrict.cListand
siteofsampledkebelesinGubalaftoDistrict
sampling technique was used to get hold of healers who the lists of officially recognized traditional healers of
had no official permission for their traditional medicinal each kebele were given along with the diseases treated
practices and who were found through the suggestion of by the kebele health officers. Likewise, group discussions
other interviewed informants confidentially. As the names were performedwith thepeople about theimportanceof
of non-legalized healers were not registered in the the study. Finally, the kebele chairpersons and health of-
governmental offices and the people hesitated to report ficers conveyed messages forthepeople concerning their
their names freely, the use of a snowball sampling tech- participationinthestudy.Field guides were usedtocon-
niquewasuseful. tact healers andcollect medicinal plant specimens.
In the same vein, additional traditional medicinal plant
species and associated information were collected from Datacollectiontoolsandprocedures
general informants (non-healers) with random sampling Ethnobotanical data were collected from February 2013
techniques.Generalinformantswereordinarypeoplewho to January 2015 in both rainy and dry seasons with a
werefoundinthestudyareaforalongperiodoftimeand descriptive field survey design in which both qualitative
used their indigenous medicinal plant knowledge within and quantitative data were collected through semi-
theirfamilies.Hence,generalinformantswereincludedas structured interviews, guided field walks, demonstra-
respondentstogatheradditionaldataandcheckthetrans- tions, and focus group discussions. The semi-structure
fer of indigenousknowledgewithin the people. Generally, interviews were delivered with the help of pre-prepared
purposive and snowball samples were used to choose a questions in the English language. The items of the
total of 32 key informants, whereas 52 informants were interview were done on the demographic characteristics
selectedusingrandomsamplingmethod. of the informants included gender, age, job, educational
It was necessary to follow some steps to contact infor- level, religion, and category (either healers or general
mants. Firstly, legal supportive letters were obtained informants).Datawerealsofocusedontheusesofmedi-
from Woldia University research and development cinal plants which incorporated local names, diseases
office. The District administrators and health and agri- treated, parts used, preparation methods, administration
cultural officials in Gubalafto discussed with the route/s, dosage, habits, and the habitats. The medicinal
researcher about the objectives of the study. Conse- plant’s conservation practices, adverse effects (if any),
quently, they permitted and gave a collaborative letter to taboos (if any), additional usesaswild food and livestock
conduct the study in the selected kebeles. Thirdly, they medicines (if any), and indigenous knowledge transfer
sent a letter of research permit for the kebele chairper- systems were also included. Individual interviews were
sons and the personnel of health offices. Accordingly, also conducted with each key informant for preference
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page4of29
ranking exercise following methods used by previous re- formula: ICF=Nur−Nt/Nur−1, where Nur refers to the
searchers[14–16]. numberofusereportsforaparticularailmentcategoryand
Data were also collected through demonstrations Ntreferstothenumberofmedicinalplantspeciesusedfor
(plant interviews) in the cases of some females and aged aparticularailmentcategorybyallinformants.
male informants in their homes with the help of prior On the other hand, use value was also calculated to see
collected plant specimens collected from the field. This therelativeimportanceofeachtraditionalmedicinalplant
is because female and aged male informants had a species for treating diseases in the study area according
minimal chance to move to far places to show medicinal to Phillips et al. [27]. It was calculated by the formula
plant specimens and their practices. Other informants UV=ΣUi/n where UV stands for the total use value of
also showed their medicinal plant practices in their the traditional medicinal plant species, whereas U re-
homes and in the fields. One up to two focus group dis- fers tothenumberofusereportscitedbyeachinformant
cussions were conducted in each sampled kebele with foragivenplant speciesandnstandsthetotalnumberof
governmental officials, key informants, and other people informantsinterviewedforagivenplantspecies.
with the help of general interview questions. Guided Fidelity level (FL) was computed to determine the FL
field walks were conducted with interviewed informants values of the most frequently used plant species for
and other local indigenous people to search for addi- treating aparticular ailmentaccording to Friedman et al.
tional medicinal plants in the wild and to collect medi- [28]. It was calculated by the formula FL=Np/N where
cinal plant voucher specimens. All interviewees were Np stands for the number of use reports cited for a
asked in the Amharic language, which is the language of given species for a particular ailment and N refers to the
the inhabitants of the study area, and the collected data total number of use reports cited for any given trad-
were translated into English with the help of experts. itionalmedicinalplant species.
Contact time and place were selected based on the Furthermore, the preference ranking was determined
interestoftheinformants. by purposively drawn ten experienced key informants to
The information about traditional medicinal plant prioritize the nine traditional medicinal plant species
specimens, consequently, was recorded in the notebook, used for preventing bleeding according to Cotton [15].
and the plants were pressed with plant press and dried Bleeding was preferred for ranking because it is a fatal
properly. The scientific names of the dried traditional andanemerging diseaseinthesociety.
medicinal plant specimen were identified in the National
Herbarium (ETH) in Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Results
by using published volumes of the Flora of Ethiopia and Respondents’indigenousknowledgecharacteristics
Eritrea [17–25], by the help of deposited authenticated Of the total 84 informants, the numbers of male partici-
specimens and taxonomists. Finally, the voucher speci- pants were higher than those of females. Informants in
menswere deposited inETH. the age range between 40 and 90 years were the highest
in number (75%) and a little higher than half (53.6%) of
Dataanalysis the informants had gone through modern education
Data were organized and analyzed by Microsoft Office (Table 1). The occupation of the informants showed that
Excel spreadsheet 2007 and Statistical Package for Social 83.3% of them were farmers, 6% were students, 3.6%
Science (SPSS) version 20. Independent sample t test were housewives, and some of the informants were rep-
was computed to identify the number of medicinal plant resented with healers and jobless. From the total infor-
species and associated uses reported by healers and gen- mants, 39.3% were key informants (healers) and 60.7%
eral informants.Similarly, itwas also usedto identifythe were general informants.
indigenous knowledge variation of males and females on The great majority of respondents (90%) reported that
the numbers of medicinal plant species and associated most of their knowledge was received from their family
uses they mentioned. The ages of the informants were members and friends secretly. The secret practices of
grouped into 20–39 (younger informants) and 40–84 traditional medicines came from their ancestors.
(elder informants). Therefore, the variation in the num- However, if it is not practiced secretly, they think that
bers of medicinal plant species and associated uses the potential ofthe medicinal values ofthe plantswill be
reported within the two age groups were computed with diminished. Furthermore, five Muslim healers acquired
independent samplettest. their knowledge through the local graduation (MIR-
Diseases recorded in this study were grouped into ten KAN) system from other elder traditional medicine ex-
majorcategorieswiththehelpofphysicians,andinformant perts. Nevertheless, elders implement this kind of
consensus factor (ICF) was calculated to determine the ef- graduation after having observed their activity in prac-
fectivenessofmedicinalplantsineachailmentcategoryac- tice. The five Muslim healers believed that traditional
cording to Heinrich et al. [26]. It was calculated by the knowledge shared without local graduation system could
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page5of29
Table1Demographicdetailsoftheinformants
Sex Agegroup(inyears) Educationalstatus
20–39 40–90 Illiterate Religiouseducation Moderneducation
Male 13(61.9%) 55(87.3%) 13(61.9%) 17(94.4%) 38(84.4%)
Female 8(38.1%) 8(12.7%) 8(8.1%) 1(5.6%) 7(15.6%)
Total 21(25%) 63(75%) 21(25%) 18(21.4%) 45(53.6)
not be usable and unsuitable for treating ailments. Fur- governmental legal recognition for their traditional
thermore, 60% of the healers reported that they learned medicine practices due to income taxes that the govern-
their medicinal plant knowledge from their friends in mentlevyupon them.
theOrthodox Church schools. Moreover,95%oftheinformantsreportedthattheyhave
Significant differences (P < 0.05) were obtained by in- not seen any documented material about the traditional
dependent sample t test between healers and general in- medicinalplantsoftheirareaandtheassociateduses.They
formants on the number of medicinal plant species and transferredtheknowledgethroughwordofmouth(orally),
associated uses (Tables 2 and 3). From the respondent’s and through time, they lost part of indigenous knowledge
report, it was found that some key informants were no- due to the difficulty of memorization. Only 5% of the re-
ticed with few effective remedies that treated one or two spondents told that their indigenous knowledge on medi-
ailments like specialized doctors in modern medicines. cinalplantshasbeenpreservedinbriefnotebooks.
The test did not show a significant difference (P > 0.05)
between male and female informants on the number of Medicinalplantspeciesofthestudyarea
medicinal plant species they listed and associated uses This study documented 135 traditional medicinal plant
reported. However, males reported the highest number species belonging to 120 genera and 64 families, which
of medicinal plant species and associated uses (Tables 2 are used to treat 65 human ailments (Appendix: Table 10).
and3). The testalso confirmed thatthere wasnosignifi- TheplantfamilyAsteraceaecontributedthehighestnumber
cant difference on the number of medicinal plant ofmedicinalplantspecies(11)followedbyFabaceae,Lamia-
species mentioned by the two age groups (20–39 and ceae, and Solanaceae with nine plant species each (Table 4
40–84 years) of informants and the respective uses they andAppendix:Table10).
explained (Tables 2 and 3). However, elders whose ages Among the total documented medicinal plant species,
were between 40 and 84 years noticed detailed descrip- Solanum incanum was used to treat the highest number
tions and practical preparation techniques. of diseases (Table 5 and Appendix: Table 10). Stomach-
On the other hand, traditional healers and members of ache (general abdominal problems), wound, febrile ill-
the society reported that traditional medicinal practices ness, swelling, and malaria were the commonly reported
are not encouraged by the kebele governmental offices, diseases, and these were treated with 1.6, 0.13, 0.07,
which are considered as illegal activities. Some of the 0.06, and 0.05% medicinal plant species, respectively.
healers also reported experiencing derogatory descrip- People in the study area give first priority for some trad-
tions and scoldings by calling them witchcrafts, KITEL itional medicinal plantspeciestotreatailmentsthanmod-
BETASH, SIRMASH, DEBTERA and ASMATEGNA, as ern drugs. Withania somnifera, Tragia brevipes, Cucumis
explained by the traditional healers, which highly re- ficifoliusand Zingiber officinale, Ziziphus spina-christi, Sal-
duced their interests in the traditional medicine prac- via merjamie and Salvia nilotica, and Plantago lanceolata
tices freely in the society. On the contrary, some of and Ruellia patula, are found to be the most important
traditional healers are not interested in having medicinal plant species than the locally available modern
Table2Statisticaltestofsignificanceandindependentttestonthenumberofmedicinalplantsmentionedbyinformantgroupsin
GubalaftoDistrict
Parameters Informantgroup N No.ofplantspeciesreported Mean tvalue** Pvalue
Informantcategory Generalinformant 51 303 5.94 −4.334 0.000*
Healer 33 541 16.39
Gender Male 68 706 10.38 0.529 0.598
Female 16 138 8.63
Age Younger(20–39years) 21 176 8.38 −0.739 0.462
Elder(40–84years) 63 668 10.60
*Significantdifference(P<0.05),**t(0.05)(twotailed),df=82,N=numberofrespondents
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page6of29
Table3Statisticaltestofsignificanceandindependentttestonthenumberofmedicinalplantusementionedbyinformantsin
GubalaftoDistrict
Parameters Informantgroup N No.ofplantspeciesusesreported Mean tvalue** Pvalue
Informantcategory Generalinformant 51 268 5.25 −4.406 0.000*
Healer 33 424 12.85
Gender Male 68 581 8.54 0.676 0.501
Female 16 111 6.94
Age Younger(20–39years) 21 162 7.71 −0.323 0.747
Elder(40–84years) 63 530 8.21
*Significantdifference(P<0.05),**t(0.05)(twotailed),df=82,N=numberofrespondents
drugs to treat swellings, dactylitis, stomachache, dandruff, both), and 33 species were from both home gardens and
bleeding, herpes zoster, and occurrence of baldness, re- wild habitats (Appendix: Table 10). The specific conserva-
spectively. Likewise, healers reported that Thalictrum tion sites for medicinal plant species were not established
rhynchocarpum, Ruta chalepensis, and Allium sativum inthestudyarea;however,therespondentslistedthecom-
were mixed commonly when they prepared remedy from mon locations namely Orthodox Church and Muslim
other traditional medicinal plant species. Besides, among Tombforests,grazinglands,farmlands,riversides,govern-
the documented human medicinal plant species, Carissa mental protected forests, and home gardens. Furthermore,
spinarum, Polygala sphenoptera, Cirsium englerianum, the majority of the collected traditional medicinal plant
Verbascum sinaiticum, and Achyranthes aspera are also specieswereherbswith68speciesfollowedbyshrubs(40),
used for the treatment of livestock diseases in Gubalafto trees(20),andclimbers(8)(Appendix:Table10).
District. Likewise, Haplocarpha rueppelii,Urtica simensis,
Grewia kakothamnos, Carissa spinarum,Cordia africana, Informantconsensusfactor
Ficusvasta,andZiziphusspina-christiareusedasfoodfor Diseases in the study area are grouped into ten ailment
humansinthewild.TheinformantsinHara(hotandrela- categories and informant consensus factor (ICF) analyses
tively lowland in the District) also reported that the werecomputed.Hence,febrileillnessandheadachescored
smashed leaves of Ziziphus spina-christi have been used the highest ICF value (0.59) followed by dermal diseases
topreventthehumancorpsefromrapiddeteriorationand (0.52) (Table 6). Febrile illness was also the top recorded
badsmelluntilburied. health problems in Gubalafto District health office.
Of the total collected medicinal plants species, most of Headache was treated with Foeniculum vulgare and Sola-
them (83) were found from the wild, 20 were obtained num incanum, whereas Carduus chamaecephalus, Conyza
from home gardens (those cultivated at home, where they schimperi, Verbascum sinaiticum, Croton macrostachyus,
are used also as food or purely for medicinal purposes or Cynoglossumcoeruleum,Eucalyptusglobulus,Geraniumara-
bicum, Lepidium sativum, and Zehneria scabra were used
Table4Taxonomicdiversityofmedicinalplantspeciesand
for the treatment of febrile illness (Appendix: Table 10). In
theirproportions
addition,Ocimumlamiifoliumwasusedforthetreatmentof
Families No.ofgenera No.speciesineach %of
bothheadacheandfebrileillness(Appendix:Table10).Two
ineachfamily familyandgenera total
typesofremedies,whichwereformedfrommixturesoftwo
Asteraceae 10 11 8.1
groupsofmedicinalplantspecies,werealsoreportedforthe
FabaceaeandLamiaceae 8 9 6.6
treatments of febrile illness. The first group of remedy was
Solanaceae 7 9 6.6 prepared from Croton macrostachyus, Cynoglossum
Euphorbiaceae 5 6 4.4
Table5Individualmedicinalplantspeciesusedformore
Cucurbitaceae 4 4 2.9
numberofailmentstreatment
Rutaceae 3 4 2.9
Namesofmedicinalplantspecies No.ofailmentstreated
Apiaceae,Acanthaceae, 3 3 2.2
Solaniumincanum 7
Ranunculaceae,Rubiaceae,
andVitaceae Ruelliapatula,Kalanchoelaciniata,and 6
Crotonmacrostachyus
Moraceae 1 3 2.2
SolanumnigrumandAchyranthesaspera 5
Eightfamilies 2 2 1.5
Zehneriascabra,Lobeliagibberroa,Phytolacca 4
Twofamilies 1 2 1.5
dodecandra,Rumexnepalensis,Tragiabrevipes,
41families 1 1 0.7 andCucumisficifolius
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page7of29
Table6DiseasecategoryandtheirICFvalues
Categories Ailments/diseases No.ofspeciesused No.ofusecitations ICFvalues
Undefinedillness Febrileandheadache 29 70 0.59
Dermal Dandruff,wound,eczema,tiniaversicolor,baldness,hemorrhoid, 66 135 0.52
boils/furunclosis,skincancer,swell
Respiratorysystems Stomachache,digestionproblems,bloat,diarrhea,toothache 24 41 0.43
Digestivesystem Stomachache,digestionproblems,bloat,diarrhea,toothache 63 103 0.39
Animalandinsect Cutaneousleishmaniasis,snakebiteandpoison,rabies,malaria, 26 40 0.36
cause spiderpoison,scorpionpoisons
Culturalrelated Evileyeandevilspirit,diseasesepidemic,generalillness 16 24 0.35
Circulatorysystems Bleeding,hypertension 16 24 0.35
Musculoskeletal& Bonebrokeandfracture,nerveproblem 6 5 0.2
nervoussystem
Senseorgans Eyeproblem,earmites,earbloat,trachoma,visionimpairment 17 19 0.11
Excretoryand Impotency,urinaryretention,expelleduterus,kidneyinfections, 18 19 0.06
reproductive ABO-incompatible,gonorrhea,sexualdiseases,retainedembryo
coeruleum, Eucalyptus globulus, Lepidium sativum, and than 0.5 values (Table 7). Of the results, Rhamnus
Rumex nervosus, and the second remedy was prepared prinoides and Datura stramonium scored the highest FL
from Achyranthes aspera, Ocimum urticifolium, Bidens values,0.97and0.86respectively.
pilosa, and Conyza schimperi. Parts of both groups of
plant species were burnt, and fumes were inhaled for the Preferenceranking
treatments of febrile illness (Appendix: Table 10). Dermal Preference ranking values of nine medicinal plant species
diseaseshadthesecondICFvalueandthehighestnumber used to treat bleeding showed that Achyranthes aspera
ofplant speciesusedtotreat it (Table 6). Theleastvalues ranked first and followed by Rumex nepalensis (Table 8).
of ICF were found in the diseases of excretory and repro- Achyranthesaspera wasreportedtostopabnormal/exces-
ductivetracts. sivemenstruationandmuchbleedingduringthenewborn
delivery time. Informants stated that Rumex nepalensis
stops bleeding without any patient body contact. The
Informantconsensus
healers cut the leaf and soon they whispered for three
Inaddition,Ocimumlamiifoliumscoredthehighestnumber
times by standing at any distance from the patient by
of informant consensus value (30) followed by Eucalyptus
globulus,CrotonmacrostachyusandCynoglossumcoeruleum
Table7FLvaluesofthe14mostreferencedmedicinalplants
with 28, 24, and 21 use values, respectively. A leaf of
Ocimumlamiifoliumisdrunkwithcoffee/teadecoctionthat Speciesnames Primaryuse/s N NP FL Rank
treated headache and febrile illness. On the other hand, Rhamnusprinoides Tonsillitis 18 17 0.94 1
Eucalyptus globulus was used to treat common cold, appe- Daturastramonium Dandruff 14 12 0.86 2
tite reduction, and febrile illness. The total informant con-
Viciafaba Boils/furunclosis 6 5 0.83 3
sensus values of each medicinal plant species are given in
Cynoglossumcoeruleum Febrileillness 21 17 0.81 4
Appendix:Table10.
Ocimumlatifolium Febrileillness 30 24 0.8 5
Rutachalepensis Stomachache 14 11 0.79 6
Usevalues
Achyranthesaspera Tonsillitis,wound, 19 14 0.74 7
The calculated results of use values (UV) showed that
andfebrileillness
Ocimum lamiifolium scored the highest number,
Eucalyptusglobules Febrileillnessand 28 19 0.68 8
which is 0.36 and Eucalyptus globulus (0.33) scored commoncold
higher use values than other species. Meanwhile, 40
Withaniasomnifera Febrileillness,evil 11 7 0.64 9
medicinal plant species scored the least use value, spirit
which is 0.01 (Appendix: Table 10).
Rumexnepalensis Stomachache 13 8 0.62 10
Solaniumincanum Stomachache 18 10 0.56 11
Fidelitylevel
Crotonmacrostachyus Febrileillness 24 12 0.5 12
The fidelity level (FL) calculation was done for the most
Zehneriascabra Febrileillness 18 9 0.5 12
cited medicinal plant species with six and above infor-
Cucumisficifolius Dactylitis 10 5 0.5 12
mants.Thecalculationresultsshowedthatallhavemore
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page8of29
Table8Simplepreferencerankingvaluesofninemedicinalplantsusedtostopbleedinginthestudyarea
Speciesname Respondents Total Rank
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10
Achyranthesaspera 7 8 6 9 8 7 9 8 9 7 78 1
Clutialanceolata 1 3 2 1 4 6 2 3 3 3 28 8
Salilamarjamic 5 5 1 4 3 5 7 1 4 5 40 5
Ruelliapatula 4 2 8 3 5 4 1 2 1 4 34 7
Rumexnervosus 3 4 3 5 6 1 3 5 5 2 37 6
Rumexnepalensis 6 6 9 8 7 9 6 9 6 9 75 2
Salvianilotica 9 7 7 6 1 8 8 7 8 8 69 3
Solaniumincanum 8 9 5 7 9 2 5 4 7 6 62 4
Solanumnigrum 2 1 4 2 2 3 4 6 2 1 27 9
saying “stop the bleeding of the patient blood!” then drop remedypreparations.Inaddition,theadditive substances
the leaf of Rumex nepalensis to the ground. Immediately, such as salt, honey, coffee, local beer, milk, butter, and
thebleedingstopsandthepatientrecover. SHIRO (ground legume seeds) were mixed during trad-
itional plant medicine preparations and administrations
to extract active components, to prevent the adverse ef-
Plantpartsusedandmodeofremedypreparation fectsofremedies,andtoadd better tastesandaromas.
In the study area, eight medicinal plant parts were iden-
tified for all documented remedy preparations. Among
Conditionofpreparationsandstoragetechniques
the total plant parts, 114 traditional plant remedies were
The fresh and dried materials of traditional medicinal
prepared from the leaves of 73 medicinal plant species.
plant remedies were prepared by informants in the study
Likewise, the roots of 51 medicinal plant species were
area.Thehighest(132)numberofremedieswereprepared
used for the preparations of 76 different remedies
from fresh parts of medicinal plants only followed by a
(Table 9). Informants applied different traditional medi-
fewernumberoftraditionalplantmedicines(46)prepared
cinal plant remedy in different ways of preparation, of
fromthedriedplantpartsonly,and64remedieswerepre-
which crushing was reported frequently (Fig. 2 and
pared either from dry or fresh plant parts. Healers stored
Appendix:Table10).Inregard tothis,mostofthemedi-
the collected traditional plant medicines in their homes
cinal plant remedy preparations involved the use of sin-
forfurtherusagemostlyinpowderedandrawdriedforms.
gle plant species or a single plant part. Thus, the
In thisregard, clothes and plasticbagsare usedmainly to
mixtures of different medicinal plant species or plant
store the dried medicines. However, the preferences of
parts are used rarely in the traditional medicinal plant
freshplantpartsformedicinearehigherthandriedonce.
Table9Plantpartsandtheirfrequencyofusesforthe
preparationofremediesinGubalaftoDistrict Routeofadministration,dosagedetermination,and
Plantpartsused Numberofreported Numberofpreparations taboos
plantspeciesineach ineachparts The respondent’s reports showed that most of the infor-
parts
mants in the study area administered traditional plant
Leaf 73 114
medicines through oral and dermal routes (Fig. 3). Cof-
Root 51 76 fee cup, tine, finger line, teaspoon, tea glass, the number
Seed 9 9 of powder droplets picked by two finger tips, and palm
Fruit 8 9 surface were used for dosage determinations. Medicines
prepared from the plant species Justicia schimperiana,
Leafandroot 8 8
Podocarpus falcatus, Acokanthera schimperi, Lobelia
Latex 5 8
gibberoa, Euphorbia abyssinica, Phytolacca dodecandra,
Bark 4 5
and Cucumis ficifolius were reported to be toxic if over-
Allparts 5 5 dosed. So, the informants reported that the adverse ef-
Stemandleaf 2 2 fects of toxic medicinal plant species could be alleviated
Flower,fruitandleaf; 1 1 by taking coffee, local beer, and flax and by eating local
fruit,leafandstem; food like SHIRO. The healers also made different dos-
rootandbark
ages of traditional medicines based on differences in
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page9of29
Fig.2ModesofpreparationofmedicinalplantsinGubalaftoDistrict.Thenumberandpercentagesofpreparationformsoftraditional
plantmedicines
gender, age, and physical condition and appearance Discussion
amongpatientsbyusingtheirexperiences. The most active participants in the study were males
Furthermore, informants in the study area reported ta- that performed their tasks out of their homes. Conse-
boos for some medicinal plant species they used. Thus, quently, they could have chances to learn the useful
sexual intercourse was not allowed for healers during values of plant species from their daily interactions. In
traditional medicine preparation and offering for patients. addition, healers preferred males to transfer their indi-
Patientsarealsonotallowedtohavesexualintercourseat genous medicinal plant knowledge because of their
the time of using Plantago lanceolata medicine to treat expectations that a male alone could take the plant spe-
Herpes zoster (shingles). At the time of Tragia brevipes cies in far sites and forests. Similarly, the dominance of
prescription for treating “dactylitis”, the patients are pro- males in studies of traditional medicinal plants was also
hibited from having sexual intercourse, eating meat, and reported by other researchers [29–34]. In contrast,
drinking milk and coffee as well as taking modern drugs. Friedman et al. [35] mentioned that women know more
Consequently, informants provided information that the medicinal plants and these differences may be explained
dactylitis patients preferred traditional medicines than by cultural and occupational disparities. Furthermore,
modernmedicines.Moreover,atthetimeofmenstruation, farming was the main task of the people in Gubalafto
females are not permitted to take traditional plant medi- District that could provide for the higher number of
cines, nor are they allowed to touch the prepared trad- farmers to develop indigenous knowledge on medicinal
itional medicines for use and contacting patients who plants. Meanwhile, the secret transfer systems of indi-
took traditional medicines. Hence, patients are kept in genous medicinal plant knowledge for one or two
their houses separately until they finish the prescribed individuals in the family members or friends orally at
traditional plant remedies. Informants mentioned about most could facilitate the disappearance of knowledge in
the sources and impacts of taboos that they generated the study area in the future. Hence, it should be shared
from their ancestors who did these otherwise the disease for a considerable number of people in oral and written
cannot be cured and the chances for relapsing were said forms.Thesecretsharingstylesofindigenousknowledge
tobehigh. in the community are also performed in other places
Fig.3Routesofadministrationoftraditionalplantmedicines.Numberoftraditionalmedicinesandtheiradministrationroutesreportedin
GubalaftoDistrict
ChekoleJournalofEthnobiologyandEthnomedicine (2017) 13:55 Page10of29
[2, 29, 30, 36–38]. On the other hand, exchanges of medicinalplantsmaybehighlyerodedinthestudyareain
indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants among stu- thenearfuture.Hence,thesustainableutilizationofmedi-
dents in religious sites are essential for the dissemination cinal plant speciesshouldbepracticedthroughawareness
ofindigenousplantknowledgeinthewidersociety.There raisingandconsciousprotectioninsituandexsitu.Inthis
are significant indigenous knowledge variations of healers regard, Balde et al. [34] stated that giving educational
and general informants showed on the number of medi- training for the people can help the management of tradi-
cinal plant species lists and associated uses they men- tionalmedicineeasily.Similarly,variousstudiesinEthiopia
tioned because traditional medicinal practices are the [10, 40–47] and other countries [2, 9, 31, 33, 48, 49] re-
main occupations for healers in the society. In addition, ported the necessity of conservation and sustainable
the indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants from utilizationofmedicinalplantspeciesinthesociety.
bothgeneralinformantsandhealersisjustasequestration The record of the highest number of herbaceous medi-
from generation to generation. However, the absence of cinal plant species in the study could be attributed to the
significant variations between the young and elder agere- fact that their presence in most parts of the study area is
spondentscouldbethateldersmostlyrelied ontheyouth due to the bimodal rainfall and extended availability of
formedicinalplantcollectionsthroughwhichtheyounger moistureinGubalafto.Similarly,variousstudiesinEthiopia
generationgotchancestoknowaboutthemedicinalplant [29, 31, 39, 42, 44–46, 50] and other countries [9, 33, 51]
identification. This has probably helped to reduce the ex- documented the dominance of herbaceous plant spe-
pected variations in indigenous knowledge on medicinal cies in traditional medicine preparations. In addition,
plant lists and the associated uses asked for during the Hailemariam et al. [52] stated that there were more
study. Elders, however, gave in-depth explanations clearly herbaceous plant species naturally as compared to
about the uses of medicinal plants including that on dos- other plant habits. Works that reported dominance of
ages and associated histories by using their experiences woody species (shrubs and/or trees) over herbs may have
thantheyoungpeople. been due to surveys undertaken during the dry season
The reason for finding a large number of documented whenmostannualherbsareabsentintheenvironment.
traditional medicinal plant species and associated uses in The presence of a higher number of plant species for
GubalaftoDistrictcouldberelatedtothediversityofland traditional medicines from the family Asteraceae could
forms and favorable climatic conditions that the main- be due to the adaptation potential of the species in the
tainedvarietiesofplantspecies.Thus,thepresenceofdif- family in a wide range of altitudes in the study area. The
ferent plant species in Gubalafto District could be the evidence given for similar results from Lulekal et al. [40]
sourceofvaluableindigenousknowledgeusedinthecom- revealed that the plant families that contributed to the
munity. This could be related to the fact that traditional considerably higher number of medicinal plant species
herbal medicines have helped the people to feel safe with were due to their wider distribution and abundance in
curesindigenoustothemthatmightalsobecost-effective the flora area as well as the presence of bioactive ingre-
[1]. In addition, the preferences of the plant species like dients. In the same way, other ethnobotanical studies
Thalictrumrhynchocarpum,Rutachalepensis,andAllium also confirmed the abundance of medicinal plant species
sativum for the mixtures of remedy preparations with inAsteraceaefamily [31,35,41,49,53,54].
others indicated that these plant species could have high Furthermore, the ICF results of the study proved that
synergy potential because of their medicinal bioactive diseasesthatwerefrequentinthestudyareahavehigherin-
components. Likewise, the uses of Ziziphus spina-christi formant consensus factor (values between 0.65 and 1). In
for the preservation of human corpse could be the muci- addition,thelessICFvalues(valuesbetween0and0.65)in-
laginous substances of the smashed fresh leaves that dicated the minimal networking of indigenous people in
would make the skin smooth when painted, which might the sharing of their knowledge on medicinal practices and
reduce bacterial and fungal growths. The three docu- this is usually the case with traditional healers. This is be-
mentedmedicinalplantspecies,namely,Cirsiumengleria- causeofthedifferenceindistance,altitudinalvariation,and
numInula confertiflora [23], and Urtica simensis [21] are climaticconditionsfoundamongthesampledstudysitesin
foundintheendemiclistofplantspeciesofEthiopia. thedistrictaswellastheinterestofeachhealertokeephis
Mostofthemedicinalplantsweremoreavailableinthe knowledge secretly from other healers for fear of piracy.
wild areas and have not been cultivated by households in The informant consensus values also indicated that the
the home gardens. Future efforts need to give due people share the knowledge of the most important medi-
attention to conserve them around human habitations. cinalplantspeciestotreatthemostfrequentlyencountered
Flatieetal.[39]reportedthatsomeofthemedicinalplants diseasesinthecommunity.Moreover,mostmedicinalplant
were cultivated in home gardens for benefits other than specieshaveleastusevaluesinthestudyarea,whichcould
medicine preparation. Hence, the medicinal plants are notmeanthattheyarelesseffectivetotreatailments.This
more exposed to extinction. Unless conserved, the is because the few effective medicinal plant species are