Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants in Malaysia, the Kangkar Pulai region

Abstract

The medicinal plants play an important role in rural health care system throughout the world in remedying and preventing various kinds of diseases. This study documented the use of plants as traditional herbal medicine in the Kangkar Pulai region Johor, Malaysia. It also identified the homogeneity of informant knowledge on medicinal plants suitable for different ailments and types of plants most favored for the treatment of each ailment in the study. The information was gathered through semi-structured interviews, discussions with key informants and informal conversations with local people and herbal practitioners. The data was calculated based on informant consensus factor (Fic) and use value (UV). Information on 40 medicinal plants species from 29 taxonomic plant families used for traditional treatment of different diseases/ailments was documented. The informant consensus factor values (Fic) showed that the local people tend to agree more with each other in terms of the plants used to treat sexual weakness (0.95), blood pressure (0.94), diabetes (0.93), delivery and female problems (0.90), hair problems and dandruff (0.87), respiratory disorder (0.86) and kidney problems (0.85). By contrast, digestive problems (0.76) and skin problems (0.71) and inflammation pain (0.70) were found to have low Fic values. Calculated values of the UV and Fic indicate that this community is knowledgeable on healing and treatment using traditional herbal medicines.