Medicinal Plant Diversity and Their Therapeutic Uses in Selected Village Common Forests in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

Abstract

Community managed Village Common Forest (VCF) in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) in Bangladesh is an example of sustainable forest management under non-governmental customary rules and regulations. This study explored the diversity of medicinal plants and their therapeutic uses by ethnic communities at two VCFs in Rangamati hill district. A total of 30 square plots of 10m×10msize was selected by stratified random sampling from the two VCFs. All medicinal plants of different habits were recorded to calculate phytosociological attributes and diversity indices. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to survey the community and local herbalists to list the ethno-medicinal uses of available plant species. A total 204 species belonging to 160 genera and 76 families used by the communities in CHTs for treating about 197 diseases/ailments were recorded. Leaves were the most used part (145 species) followed by roots (119 species) and stem (53 species). In terms of habit form, herbs were the highest percentage (44%) followed by trees (26%) and shrubs (16%). The diversity indices indicated the presence of diverse medicinal plants.