Study of medicinal plant used by the ethnic community of Karo around Lau Debuk-Debuk Tourism Park, Indonesia

Abstract

Communities with habitat around the forest have used traditional medicine for quite long to maintain their health and treat various diseases. This research aimed to find out the medicinal plants utilized by the communities around Lau Debuk-debuk Tourism Park and to know the utilization of the medicinal plant species. This research implemented two approaches which consisted of field survey in two selected villages (Semangat Gunung Village and Doulu Village). There were sixty species of medicinal plants commonly used by people around Lau Debuk-Debuk Tourism Park. Parts of the plant used as medicines were leaves, root, flowers, plant bark, stem, and tubers. It was found that leaves are most widely used by people of both villages. The current research enlarges the knowledge of the application of endemic plants growing in the investigated area.

Traditional medicinal plants and their utilization by local communities around Lambung Mangkurat Education Forests, South Kalimantan, Indonesia

“…However, the level of utilization ratio for each ethnic group is different. In Indonesia, such a situation is found in the Karo ethnicity in North Sumatra (Affandi and Batubara 2019), the Kaili ethnic group, Central Sulawesi (Ifandi et al 2016), the Tengger ethnic group in East Java (Jadid et al 2020), the community of Karangwangi Village, Cianjur, West Java (Malini et al 2017), three ethnic groups (Banjar, Bugis, Dayak) in Tanah Bumbu Regency, Kalimantan Selatan (Radam et al 2016), Ethnic Mamuju, Sulawesi West (Syamsiah et al 2016), and four Dayak sub-ethnics in West Kalimantan (Yusro et al 2014). Outside Indonesia, ethnic groups or communities that use leaves as the main part of plants in medicine include the Tolai community, Papua New Guinea (Bureng et al 2016), the Manobo Tribe, the Philippines (Dapar et al 2020), the Bilaspur Village community, India (Patel 2014), the Ayta community, Philippines (Tantengco et al 2018), and Sheikhupura, Pakistan (Zahoor et al 2017).…”

The application of medicinal plants in the local community of Gantara Forest, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

“…In addition, harvesting leaves does not lead to lethal effects (Qamariah et al 2020), promotes high regeneration (Susanti et al 2018), and makes it easy to grow back after harvesting (Qamariah et al 2020). The use of leaves for medication in Indonesia has been reported to be practiced by the Kaili tribe in Central Sulawesi (Ifandi et al 2016), the community of Mamuju, West Sulawesi (Syamsiah et al 2016), the Tengger tribe in East Java (Jadid et al 2020), the community of Karangwangi Village, Cianjur, West Java (Malini et al 2017), Karo tribe in North Sumatra (Affandi and Batubara 2019), Banjar, Bugis, and Dayak tribes in South Kalimantan (Radam et al 2016), and four sub-ethnics of Dayak in West Kalimantan (Yusro et al 2014).…”

Ethnobotany and diversity of Citrus spp. (Rutaceae) as a source of “Kem-kem” traditional medicine used among the Karo sub-ethnic in North Sumatra, Indonesia

“…Most Indonesians, especially ethnic groups in inland areas, still use traditional herbal medicines to treat various diseases because of the rich source of medicinal plants and limited access to modern medicine [ 2 ]. Also, traditional medicine is a part of the ethnic culture in Indonesia [ 3 ] because it is simple to use, easy to obtain, and plentiful [ 4 ]. Each ethnic group has local knowledge about using medicinal plants, passed down from generation to generation.…”

“…They are located at the Karo Regency, North Sumatra Province. They are famous for their local knowledge about the traditional use of medicinal plants from the forest to treat various diseases [ 4 ]. However, along with the modernization and development of science and technology, the traditional use of medicinal plants has been abandoned [ 4 ].…”

“…They are famous for their local knowledge about the traditional use of medicinal plants from the forest to treat various diseases [ 4 ]. However, along with the modernization and development of science and technology, the traditional use of medicinal plants has been abandoned [ 4 ]. Their rich local knowledge of medicinal plants will be lost gradually [ 7 ].…”