ETHNO-MEDICO-BOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE FROM KAUKHALI PROPER AND BETBUNIA OF RANGAMATI DISTRICT

A survey was carried out between July 2001 and June 2002 in Kaukhali proper and Betbunia area of Rangamati district to document the medicinal plants of that area and their uses. During this work 34 species representing 23 genera and 17 families were found, which are used by the Chakma and Marma tribes and the Bangalis living there for the treatment of 31 diseases. Botanical and tribal names of the plants, parts used, name of the diseases, and name of the users have been mentioned.


Introduction
Kaukhali proper is about 10 km west to Rangamati town.Betbunia is a Union under Kaukhali P.S. situated about 9 km south of Kaukhali proper and about 18 km south-west to Rangamati town.Being a hilly area they are rich in floral diversity.Inhabitants of those areas are mostly tribal, dominated by Chakma and Marma.Many of them still depend on local medicinal plants for the treatment of different diseases.A good number of Bangali families are also living there.They also use quite a good number of medicinal plants for the treatment of different diseases.In recent years due to development of good communication, modern doctors and medicines have reached there, resulting decline in the use of traditional medicine.Therefore the knowledge of traditional use of medicinal plants by the local people is likely to be lost in near future, and for this it is necessary to document as much as possible the existing available information.
Only a limited work has been done on the tribal folk medicine in the Chittagong Hill-Tracts i.e., Alam 1992, Chakma, et al. 2003, Rahman et al. 1998;Rahman and Uddin 1998, Rahman 2003, Uddin 2001, Yusuf et al. 2002.Keeping this in mind this survey was done to document those valuable ethno-medico-botanical knowledge.The survey was carried out for about a year.During this work 34 species representing 23 genera and 17 families were documented which are used for the treatment of 31 diseases.Local names of those plants, parts used, method of use and doses are mentioned.

Materials and Methods
Uses of medicinal plants have been documented on ethnobotanical data sheet by interviewing tribal healers and elderly people of the study areas, namely, Kaukhali and Betbunia.The study was made for about one year, between July 2001 and June 2002 by repeatedly visiting the areas in different seasons to get the information on the plants.The information were verified by repeated inquiries and asking the tribal healers as far as possible.The voucher specimens of most of the species have been collected, identified and preserved in the herbarium of BCSIR Laboratories, Chittagong.Plants are arranged alphabetically by their botanical names followed by tribal names, family names and voucher number.In case of most common and well-known plants voucher number has not been mentioned.
In case of Cassia fistula same use was reported for bark and wood (Kirtiker 1975) instead of fruit pulp as recorded here.Marma tribe uses the root of Plumbago zeylanica in case of suppression of menses.It has a rational basis, because "plumbagin" contained in the root has stimulant effect on muscular tissue of uterus and on nervous system (Kirtikar and Basu 1975).It was observed during the investigation that tribal of Betbunia and Kaukhali generally use single plant for the preparation of medicine, rarely two or more than two plants.But the Bangalis in Kaukhali were found to use a number of plants instead of single plant.Moreover, they use some minerals also, which was not found in tribal preparations.Probably this is due to the influence of Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine on them.The local people reported during the investigations that the number of tribal practitioners has declined to only a few now-a-days than in the past.Root paste mixed with rice-socked water is prescribed orally.Dose: 1 cup twice daily for 3 days (Users: Marma).

Marma-Chainchi
Betbunia Impotency, Jaundice, Dropsy Root paste is given orally with honey for impotency.Dose: 1 teaspoonful once daily for 3-4 days.In jaundice and dropsy, necklets made of root pieces worn on head and kept till cure (Users: Marma).
with the bile of Python and fruits of Myristica fragrans is rubbed on the affected parts in paralysis.Bruised leaves are put before nose of the patient of epilepsy for relief (Users: Marma).Albizia procera Benth.Fresh leaves or paste of the young leaves are prescribed orally along with rice.Dose: Teaspoonful of paste twice daily for 2Monopterous cuchia is applied over head after cleaning and then paste of garlic is applied along with the jhul i.e., spider net along with dirt (Users: Chakma).Alocassia cuculata Schott.swallowedalong with ripe banana.Dose: About a tablespoonful once daily for 2-3 days (Users: Marma).with the fruit of Myristica fragrens is given in fever along with rice soaked water.Dose: Half glass twice daily for three days.Infant dose is half.In ranikhet of chicken root juice mixed with boiled rice and cow dung is prescribed.Dose: Half teaspoon 2-3 times a day (Users: Chakma).