Traditional botanical knowledge (TBK) on the use of medicinal plants in Sikles area, Nepal

The present study documents the Traditional Botanical Knowledge (TBK) on the use of medicinal plants by the people in Sikles area (Kaski, Nepal), mainly focusing on three wards. Sikles is located to the N-E corner of Pokhara at mountain side perched on hillock and is one of the largest and most beautiful villages inhabited by Gurung along with minority of lower caste communities. The field was carried out using the semi-structured questionnaire with 45 informants (two groups i.e. below and above 40 years). The ethno medicinal TBK was also quantitatively analyzed using Relative Frequency Citation (RFC) and Use Value (UV) along with their Pearson Correlation. Our study documented 42 plants species used by the local people to cure 43 different ailments. Majority of the species are single in their respective families. The plant families with more than one medicinal plant species reported were Compositae, Ericaceae, Labiatae, Rosaceae, Urticaceae and Zingiberaceae (each with 2 species). The dominant life form of these plant species were herbs with 24 species followed by shrub (7 sp.) and trees (7 sp.). Out of total, roots of 11 sp. were dominant with maximum use against the diseases followed by leaf (8 sp.), whole plants (8 sp.) etc. The RFC and UV calculated indicate less correlation particularly with the use value of the plants and number of informants responding the use of plants. Thus to preserve TBK on use of medicinal plants, the forthcoming generations must be acquainted with species knowledge and their medicinal values.

Author(s): Santosh Kumar Rana*, Pramod Sen Oli and Hum Kala Rana

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