Abstract:
Assessment of traditional medicinal plants was conducted to document the indigenous plantbased medical knowledge of the people in Dehana woreda, northern Ethiopia from January to July, 2018. A total of 100 informants (age≥25) were selected to collect information on medicinal plant use from three sampled kebeles. Of these, 12 key informants were selected purposively based on recommendation by local elders and authorities. The rest were selected randomly. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, field observations and group discussions with key informants. Informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level were calculated to assess the agreement of informants on the medicinal value of plants. A total of 52 plant species distributed in 51 genera and 41 families were collected and identified. From 52 collected medicinal plants of the study area, 33 species (63.46%) were used against human ailments, 5 species (9.61%) were used against livestock ailments and the remaining 14 species (26.92%) were used to treat both human and livestock ailments. From the total medicinal plant species, 19 ( 36.53%) were herbs , 17(32.69%) were shrubs , 13 (25%) were trees and 3 (5.77%) were climbers The most frequently used plant parts were leaves 20(38.47) followed by roots 10(19.23%) The most widely used method of preparation was crushing of the different part of plants. The common route of administration recorded was oral followed by dermal.Disease categories such as snake bite, rabies, malaria had ICF values 0.92 and febrile illness, cough, common cold had ICF values of 0.88 this high ICF value indicates high incidence of these diseases in the study area and agreement of people on their remedies. The study area people have similar medicinal knowledge based on Jaccard’s similarity Index. Preference ranking was done by Rabies which was common on the district and treated by 5 medicinal plants. Local government participation is need to minimize transmission of rabies .
