Traditional use of medicinal plants by the Garo tribe in northern region of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

The study of ethnobotany relating to any tribe is very intricate or convoluted process. This paper documents the traditional knowledge on medicinal plants used by the indigenous Garo tribes in the northern region of Bangladesh. The present study was done through a semi-structured questionnaire. We found 23 medicinal plant species belonging to 30 families in our study area which are frequently used by the Garo tribes. Our study reveals that for curing diverse form of ailments 48% Garo households use aboveground plant parts, 9% households use underground plant parts and 43% use both aboveground and underground plants parts. In case of aboveground plant parts, leaf was used in the majority of cases [17 species], followed by bark [6 species] and fruit [3 species]. Different underground plant forms such as root, tuber, rhizome, bulb and pseudo-bulb were also used by the Garo tribe as medicine. Altogether, 27 types of ailments have been reported to be cured by using these 23 medicinal plant species. The study thus underlines the potentials of ethnobotanical research and the need for documentation of traditional ecological knowledge pertaining to medicinal plants management and utilization for the greater benefit of mankind