Abstract:
Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by local people and associated indigenous
knowledge was conducted in Gummer woreda, Gurage Zone, SNNPRS of Ethiopia. The purpose
of this study was to investigate and document the traditional medicinal plants used by indigenous
people of Gummer Woreda together with indigenous knowledge. Data collection tools were
semi-structured interviews, field observations and group discussions. Descriptive statistics
informant consensus factor, fidelity level, preference ranking and direct matrix ranking were
also computed. A total of 70 Medicinal plant species distributed across38 families were collected
from the study area and identified. From the total collected plants, 81.4% were used for the
treatment of 38 human ailments, while 5.7% were used for treating 9 livestock ailment. The
remaining 12.9% of the species were used for treating both human and livestock ailments.
Herbs represented by 35 species followed by shrubs with 23 species and trees with 12 species.
The most commonly used route of administration was oral rout of administration followed by
dermal. Ear pain, hair rash, high blood pressure and appetite problem had the highest ICF value
(1) followed by tuberculosis, wound, eye disease, muscles and bone pain related disease and
anemia (> 0.90). Percent fidelity level of Dovulis abyssinica to treat skin related disease,
Lepidium sativum for treating bloating and Aloe deibrana to treat wound was 100%, suggesting
that these plants may be specifically used to treat particular ailments. Preference ranking of 7
medicinal plants reported to treat skin related diseases showed that Dovulisa byssinica ranked
first. Computation of direct matrix ranking showed that Eucalyptus globulus ranked first for being used for many purposes. For further scientific utilization, chemistry of medicinal plants
with high ICF and FL values should be further investigated for drug discovery. Moreover,
awareness rising works for the locals should be made on conservation of medicinal plants.
