Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Heban Arsi District, Oromia, South Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants in Heban Arsi district was conducted to document medicinal plants, parts used for medicinal purposes, modes of preparation and routes of administration for remedies. Ethnobotanical data were obtained using Household Survey, Key informant interview and market survey from October 12, 2014 to January 12, 2015. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Science. Ethno medicinal use of 130 medicinal plant species belonging to 112 genera and 61 families were identified and documented. The highest number of medicinal plants was used in Degaga (midland) district (54 species). Out of total medicinal plants 55 (44.35%) species were reported to treat human aliments only. Most of the medicinal plants harvested were herbs (37.50%), followed by trees (36.76%) and the least was lianas 1(0.74%). The root (25.74%) parts of medicinal plants were frequently used, followed by leaves (24.26%), both roots and leaves (9.56%) and seeds (8.82%). The most widely used mode of preparation in study area was crushing (17.65%), followed by pounding (16.91%), powdering (13.97%) and squeezing (5.88%). The most commonly used route of administration was oral (30.88%), followed by dermal only (14.71%), nasal and dermal (11.76%), and nasal only (8.09%). Most of the medicinal plants were reported to be used in fresh (52%) condition to treat diseases. Market survey indicated that most of the medicinal plants were not widely sold in market for medicinal purposes, but for other purposes. Ocimum lamiifolium species was cited by the highest proportion of informants (27.68%) and, Anemia disease category scored the highest number informant consensus factor (0.84) value. Preference ranking indicates that Ocimum lamiifolium ranked first in treating febrile illness human disease and Croton mycrostachyus ranked first in treating blackleg livestock disease in the study area. Simple pairwise comparison indicated that Calpurnia aurea ranked first to treat snake bite disease. Direct matrix ranking revealed that Cordia africana ranked first as a multipurpose medicinal plant.

Keywords/Phrases: Heban Arsi, Medicinal Plants, Ethnobotany, Human disease, Livestock disease