Ethnomedicinal study of Plants in Wonchi District, South Western Shewa, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Wonchi district is rich in medicinal plant and people of the area used traditional indigenous knowledge to treat human ailments and livestock ailments. Agricultural expansion and deforestation the major threatens of medicinal plants in the study area. Hence, this study aimed at documentation and analyzing the plant-based Ethnomedicinal knowledge of people in order to prevent to become gradually less indigenous knowledge.Ethnobotanical data were collected using semi-structural interview and field observation. A total of 68 plant species belonging to 62 genera and 34 families were documented in the study area. The most commonly used plant families were Lamiaceae (9, 13.23%) followed by Asteraceae (8, 11.76%).Most of the plants (70.6%) were reportedly used to treat human diseases. The most frequently used plant parts were leaves (66%), followed by roots (17.64% ).The dominant route of  remedy  administration  was oral (38 preparations, 55.9%) followed by dermal (20, 29.4%), nasal (8, 11.8%) and optical (2, 3%).The study resulted in documenting 68 medicinal plants species where Lamiaceae is leading family with the highest section of medicinal plants. Most of medicinal plants in the study area were collected from wild. Herbs were found to be the dominant growth form of medicinal plants used for preparation traditional remedies and followed by shrubs. Leaves were to be the most frequent used plant parts for the preparation of traditional remedies. Traditional medicinal preparation was mainly through crushing followed by pounding.The major threats on medicinal plants in the study area ascend from agricultural expansion, deforestation, overgrazing, charcoal making and fire wood collection. For this reason Conservation promotion strategy for medicinal plants of the study area is recommended.

Keywords: Ethnobotany, Indigenous knowledge, Medicinal plants, Wonchi

DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/13-7-02

Publication date: April 30^th 2022