Ethnomedicinal Study of Medicinal Plants used against Infectious Disease by Muna Tribe of South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia

 

Himaniarwati*, Ahmad Saleh, Wa Ode Yuliastri, Muhammad Isrul, Jastria Pusmarani, Risky Juliansyah, Citra Dewi

Department of Pharmacy, STIKES Mandala Waluya Kendari, South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia

*Corresponding Author E-mail: himaniarwatie@gmail.com

 

ABSTRACT:

The Aim of the present study was to document ethnomedicinal plants used to treat Infectious diseases by Muna Tribe in South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia. Ethnomedicinal data was collected by participant observation and open and semi-structured interviews to collect information from local healers who are native in the study area. Ten male key informants described 26 plant species belong to 20 Families, which are used as herbal medicine for Infections. The medicinal plants have been reported for their antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. The families of Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Meliaceae, and Moraceae comprised of 46 % of all the plants documented. For the majoririty of the plants, the were commonly used part were leaves (55%), followed by fruits (16%), stems (13%), rhizomes and roots (6%), and flowers (3%). The data could be used as a basis for further studies on medicinal plants for future phytochemical and pharmacological studies

 

KEYWORDS: Ethnomedicinal, Medicinal plant, Infectious, Muna tribe.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The use of medicinal plants continues to expand rapidly across the world with many people now resorting to these products for treatment of various diseases in different national healthcare settings1. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of people in developing countries use traditional medicine to meet the needs of health maintenance and 85% of traditional medicine involves the use of plant extracts2.

 

Ethnomedicinal studies of plants by the indigenous people are often noteworthy. The results provide a gateway for the study of the new drugs source from the medicinal plants3,4,5. Plant and plant products play an important part in the material culture of many of the world’s native societies. Ethnomedicinal studies indicated the importance of medicinal plants species within the local sociocultural context. The study extend the indigenous plant-based knowledge of the local ethnic and ultimately leads to conserve the global heritage6.

 

Medicinal Plants can produce secondary metabolites that can be used to treat infectious diseases7-11. Bioactive compounds such as terpenes, quinones, flavonoids, alkaloids have proven antimicrobial activities12-16. Many medicinal plants used empirically by the community for the treatment of infectious diseases have not been scientifically investigated for their activities.          

 

Indonesia is an archipelago country, rich in biodiversity, and has a variety potential medicinal plants which have not been revealed maximally through appropriate way of processing the medicine17. Muna Island is one of islands in the Southeast Sulawesi province. The island has an ethnic population of muna tribe that has a well-known culture in the use of medicinal plant.

 

The purpose of this ethnomedicinal study the study is to document the medicinal plants used for treatment of infectious diseases in Lamanu subdistrict, Muna Regency. The data could be used as a basis for further studies on medicinal plants for phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

 

METHODS:

Study Area:

Lamanu Subdistrict (5° 1' N and 122° 25' E) is one of the 12 subdistricts in Kabawo district, Muna Regency of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia (Figure 1). It is bordered to the north by Kabangka district, to the west by kawite-kawite subdistrict and to the South by Paringgi District. It is Kabawo district’s largest region (28.83%), it consists of a total area of 58.13 sq. km. The region consists of mountains, valleys, and flats. The mean values of annual temperature is 27.8 °C and the rainfall ranges from 17.1 to 432.5 mm18. Most of the region receives good rainfall and has an excellent vegetation cover, making it likely to have an abundance of medicinal plants.

 

Data Collection:

Ethnomedicinal data were collected from March to June 2016. Standard ethnomedicinal methods such as participant observation and open and semi-structured interviews were used to gather information3. All the participants were native of the study area. A sum of 10 key informants, all male, were selected after the initial survey and discussions. Selection of the informants was made based on their popularity in the study area. They were well known in the area due to their expertise as medicinal practitioners and had a broad traditional knowledge of medicinal plants. The questionnaire was designed to collect data on local names of the plants, ailments treated by the plant, and part of plant used. Plant specimens were collected for taxonomic identification in the Biology Department of Haluoleo University Kendari Indonesia.

 

RESULTS:

We found that there were 26 medicinal plant species belonging to 20 families used for treating infectious diseases in Lamanu Subdistrict (Table 1). About 46% of all plants belong to the families of Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Meliaceae, each family represent 2 species, and others families represent only one species (Figure 2). Plants used to treat two ailments represent the majority (13 spesies), followed by plants used to treat single ailments (12 spesies) and those which are ale to treat three ailments (3 Spesies).

 

Table 1 : Result Observation of wild plants used as medicine infectious disease

Local Name

Scientific name (family)

Ailment

Plant Parts

Daru

Averrhoa Bilimbi (Oxalidaceae)

Acne, productive cough

Fruit

Saga

Abrus precatorius (Fabaceae)

cough

Leaves

Banggai

Moringa oleifera (Moringaceae)

Scabies, skin disesase

Leaves, stem, Root

Kapaeya

Carica papaya L. (Caricaceae)

Malaria, vaginal Infectious

Leaves

Bulusturu

Luffa acutangula (Cucurbitaceae)

productive cough, vaginal Infectious

Fruit

Kemuning

Murraya Paniculata (Rutaceae)

Urinary tract Infectious

Leaves

Murubei

Morus Alba L (Moraceae)

Gonorrhea, chronic hepatitis

Leaves and Fruit

Kanananasi

Rhoeo spathacea (commelinaceae)

dysentery, Tuberculosis, cough

Leaves

Orangri

Eclipta prostrata (Asteraceae)

Hepatitis

Leaves and stem

Terate

nelumbo nucifera (nelumbonaceae)

vaginal Infectious, Tuberculosis

Leaves

tumbulawa

Curcuma xanthorrhiza (Zingiberaceae)

Chickenpox (Varicella)

Rhizome

Patiwala

Lantana camara (Vebenaceae)

Tuberculosis , vaginal Infectious

Leaves

Karoo

Pipper betle (piperaceae)

Cough, vaginal Infectious

Leaves

Sambiloto

Andrographis paniculata (Acanthaceae)

Influenza

Leaves

Tantalali

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides (Araliaceae)

Gonorrhea, Leprosy

Leaves

Kabera buku

Euphorbia tirucalli (Euphorbiaceae)

Skin disease, Syphilis

Stem

kamunti -muntia

Hedyotis corymbosa (L.) Lamk (Rubiaceae)

Hepatitis, Urinary tract Infectious

Leaves

Putri malu

Mimosa pudica (Fabaceae)

Herpes

Flower

Bubuno

Lansium parasiticum (Meliaceae)

Malaria

Leaves

Paria

Momordica charantia (Cucurbitaceae)

Malaria, cough

Leaves and Fruit

Mahoni

Swietenia mahagoni (Meliaceae)

Malaria

Fruit

Kumbou

Artocarpus lanceifolius (Moraceae)

Cough, Tuberculosis

Root

Ladha

Alpiana galanga (Zingiberaceae)

Skin Infectious

Rhizome

Kadawa

Ceiba petandra (Malvaceae)

Chickenpox (Varicella)

Stem

Bontu Kadea

Hibiscus tiliaceus (Malvaceae)

Cough

Leaves

Bumalaka

Psidium guajava (Myrtaceae)

Cough

Leaves

 

 

The highest number of infectious disease that can be treated by medicinal plants was cough (9), followed by Vaginal Infectious (5), Malaria (4), Tuberculosis (4), Hepatitis (3), Skin Infectious (3), Chickenpox (Varicella) (2), Gonorrhea (2), Urinary tract Infectious (2), Acne (1), dysentery (1), Herpes (1), Influenza (1), and Leprosy (1) (Figure 3). For The majoruty of the plants the leaves were commonly used part (55%), followed by fruits (16%), stems (13%), rhizomes and roots (6%), and flowers (3%) (Figure 4).

 

 

 

DISCUSSION:

Indonesia has a wealth of biological resources and is home to a large number of different ethnic and cultural groups, many of which have developed their own health care systems. As a result, the country is rich in both biological resources and traditional medicinal knowledge. Moreover, it is believed that the situation of traditional medicine in Indonesia is more or less characteristic for that in several other countries in the region. Traditional healer is someone known to and acknowledged by the community as a person who can provide traditional treatments. Healers may have inherited their skills from their ancestors or obtained them by studying, via apprenticeship, by divine inspiration or by meditation19.

 

Muna tribe is an ethnic population that inhabits the Muna island. Muna Island does not have adequate health infrastructures, so that health services have not been sufficiently avaiable for the entire population. Therefore, The Muna ethnic still relies on traditional medicine. Traditional healing practice using local plants is performed by traditional healers who are believed to be shamans with supernatural powers. Traditional healers generally get a special place in society.

 

Ethnomedicinal data were collected from ten male key informants who are known as traditional healers in the local area. There were 26 plant species belonging to 20 Families which were reported to be used as herbal medicine for treating infectious diseases. Interestingly, besides using medicinal plants, local healers also use something called kafui-fui. Kafui fui is a mantra or prayer spelled by a shaman and then blown into medicinal plant brew. They believe kafui-fui can increase the efficacy of the medicinal plants. Nowadays kafui-fui begins to be abandoned because many people who use medicinal plants without kafui fui can also cure the disease.

 

 

The leaves are the most used part (55%) as traditional medicine. The use of the leaves has been known to have some advantages such accessibility during field collection, ease of preparation, and effectiveness due to bioactive components in their parts. In the same way, the detailed reason for leaves as the most potential sources of traditional remedy preparation was suggested by various studies20.

 

Ethnomedicinal study have reported antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties of the medicinal plants. Pipper bettle leaves is commonly used as antibacterial agents and have been reported inhibited both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria21. Moringa oleifera leaves have been well known to have some pharmacological activities, as antibacterial agents for Shigella shinga, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella sonnei, Pseudomonas spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Streptococcus-B- haemolytica, Bacillus subtilis, Sarcina lutea, and Bacillus megaterium22. Others medicinal plants species that have been reported as antibacterial are Averrhoa Bilimbi23, Carica papaya L.24, Luffa acutangula25, Murraya Paniculata26, Rhoeo spathacea27, Hibiscus tiliaceus28, and Psidium guajava29.

 

The notable diseases that can be cured with medicinal plants are Malaria and Tuberculosis. Malaria and Tuberculosis are endemic diseases in Indonesia. Four plant species have been reported as antimalarial which are Carica papaya, Lansium parasiticum, Momordica charantia, and Swietenia mahagoni. Momordica charantia and Swietenia mahagoni have been scientifically reported for their anti-plasmodial activity30,31,32. Rhoeo spathacea, Lantana camara, Artocarpus lanceifolius, and Nelumbo nucifera are reported to have antituberculosis properties, and two of four spesies which are Rhoeo spatacea and Lantana camara has been scientifically reported as antimycobacterium agents33,34.

 

Some medicinal plants were reported to have antiviral and antifungal properties. Morus Alba L, Eclipta prostrata, Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Andrographis paniculata, Hedyotis corymbosa, Mimosa pudica, and Ceiba petandra were reported to have antiviral properties. Meanwhile, Moringa oleifera, Euphorbia tirucalli, and Alpiana galanga were reported to have antifungal activies. Most of medicinal plants have been scientifically reported by their properties35-40, except Eclipta prostrata, Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Hedyotis corymbosa, and Ceiba petandra.

 

Medicinal plants that can be studied further based on their pharmacological properties are Carica papaya and Lansium parasiticum as antiplasmodium agents, Artocarpus lanceifolius and nelumbo nucifera as antimycobacterium agents, and Eclipta prostrata, Curcuma xanthorrhiza, Hedyotis corymbosa, and Ceiba petandra as antiviral agents.

 

CONCLUSION:

Ethnomedicinal study of medicinal plants used against Infectious diseases by Muna tribe in south-east Sulawesi Indonesia reported 26 medicinal plant species belong to 20 Families for its antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Ethnomedicinal data were collected from 10 key male informants who are traditional healers in local area. Ethnomedicinal data could be used as a basis for further studies on medicinal plants for future phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The authors wish to express gratitude to The Ministries of Research, Technology, And Higher Education of Indonesia as financial support for implementing this study.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

There are no conflicts of interests.

 

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Received on 13.03.2019         Modified on 19.03.2019

Accepted on 14.04.2019         © RJPT All right reserved

Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 2020; 13(4): 1827-1832.

DOI: 10.5958/0974-360X.2020.00329.7