Ethnobotanical uses of plants by Brangkuah Community of Moyo Island, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

An ethnobotanical study at Moyo Island, West Nusa Tenggara was carried out to record the traditional knowledge and utilization of plant species there. It is expected that traditional knowledge can play a role in natural resource management systems which can be used in conservation programs. This research was conducted with field observational methods in the Moyo forest and interviews with local people that have knowledge about utilization of plants. There are about 48 species of plants which are utilized by the Brangkuah Community in Moyo Island. Most of them are collected from the forest and 21% (10 species) are cultivated. Local people also use plants for medicine 41% (21 species), food 39% (20 species) and building materials 16% (8 species). The Brangkuah have started to cultivate several plants which are used as building material and food plants which previously collected from the forest. The Brangkuah community has conserved useful plants for their daily life. It is expected that the forest is sustainable. Article history: Received: 23 May 2019 Accepted: 01 September 2019 Published: 30 September 2019


Introduction
Ethnobotany is the study of the relationship between people and plants (Harsberger, 1986). It studies how plants are used, managed and perceived in human societies and used for food, medicine, building, spices, social life, etc. Each ethnic group has extensive experiences in the utilization and conservation of biological and ecological diversity (Walujo, 1998). Ethnobotany is the most important approach in studying the natural resource management by the indigenous people (Abbasi et al.., 2012). Obtaining information from this study of ethnobotany has several applications, (1) Documentation of the traditional knowledge of plant species used and the methods of preparing and administering the medication, especially for serious ailments, still reside with traditional healers, (2) Knowing the diversity of plant species that have a direct value in supporting vital social life of local communities. This information can later be used as a priority list of plants for rehabilitation and/or community development programs, and (3) Obtaining basic information of the potential species in traditional medicines.
This study is an inventory of the plants that are used by the Brangkuah community in Moyo Island, West Nusa Tenggara. The island lies between 809'36"-8023'19" LS and 117027'45"-117035'42" BT. Based on Agricultural Decree on October 23, 1972, Number 501/Kpts/Um/197, Moyo Island was designated as a conservation area since 1973 and regional boundaries with an area of 18.765 hectare of forest were carried out (Simbolon, 1973). Moyo Island region is administratively located in Sumbawa Besar, Labuan Badas district, West Nusa Tenggara.
This region lies in the Wallacea region between the line of Wallace and Weber that separates the two biogeographic regions of Asia and Australia. It is the midpoint where Asian and Australian fauna and flora are approximately equally represented, and follows the deepest straits traversing the Indonesian Archipelago  (Monk et al.., 1997). The geography of Moyo Island is lowland with a maximum altitude of 600 m above sea level. Soil texture is sandy, nutrient-poor with high soil permeability which causes leaching of soil nutrients when it rains. Average rainfall is 1260 mm/year. In Moyo island, education and health facilities are very limited, so they utilize natural resources on the island. Sometimes, they come to sumbawa by boat to get their needs. In Moyo Island, there are groups of people who live in a village, they are called Brangkuah.
The Brangkuah community have been living in Moyo island for last 58 years, they are a farming society. The people utilize plants from the forest during daily life in traditional ways. The majority of people are descendants of the Bugis tribe. The other tribes are Bima, Selayar, Makasar, and Timor with different languages. The majority religion is Muslim. Distribution of the population is on the coastal area and the river. The main livelihood of people is farming that is sedentary and carried out in groups. Other livelihoods include collecting honey and wood in the forest to be sold in Sumbawa. For consumption purposes, the Brangkuah community cultivate some crop plants such as rice, tubers, corn, etc. in their fields . Besides farming, they also grazed wild cattle (Bos sundaicus). Based on information, cattle were grazed in the forests by order of the Sumbawa king (1870), as many grasslands are in Moyo island. This cattle came from India.
The utilization of plants by the Brangkuah community in Moyo Island has not been investigated. The aim of this research is to record the utilization of plants by the Brangkuah community. Knowledge diversity of plant species has a direct value in supporting life in local communities, so the information about this diversity can be used to create a plant list of priorities for rehabilitation programs.

Materials and Methods
This Research was conducted in April 2013 at the Brangkuah community, Moyo Island, West Nusa Tenggara ( Figure 1). Interviews, questionnaires, free listing, participant observation and direct observation, can be used to study the potential of plants in ethnobotany (Hoffman and Gallaher, 2007). According to Jain (1995), information regarding the usage of medicinal plants available in the local area for treating various ailments and diseases, is collected by directly contacting the elders, herbal doctors and the people who have knowledge about these medicinal plants.
The data was collected by observation with walk systematic exploration in the forest. Observation of Brangkuah people in the forest was used to study the plants that they have utilized ( Figure 2). Interviews were also conducted of elder people in the Brangkuah community who have indigenous knowledge and influence in this community. If Brangkuah people are sick, they will consult with elder people to treat their illness by using wild plants in the forest around the Brangkuah community. We have documented plant species that are cultivated in their gardens. Approximately 50 home gardens were used to sample. Observation and interview methods were used to document and record the plants used. The respondent aged from 30-65 years old. All respondent has private house and a garden surrounding their house. The interviewees were asked questions related to their ethnobotanical knowledge of plants cultivated in home gardens in their villages. We also have recorded whether the plants are introduced species (imported from other regions) or native to the forest. The following information was reordered 1) Scientific Name (binomial), 2) local name, 3) plant part used, 4) utilization category, 5) the used plant status, and 6) how the plants were used. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively. A literature study was used to know the chemical constituents of plant species based on the latest research. Most of the materials were preserved by making a herbarium specimen to identify the plant species. The herbarium specimen was identified in Herbarium Bogoriense and Purwodadi Botanic Garden LIPI (Indonesian Institute of Sciences). The Plant List (http://www.theplantlist.org/) was used to standardize scientific names.

Medicinal plants
The results of the study of the 48 plant species utilized by people in Moyo Island Nusa Tenggara were recorded ( Figure 3). The largest group is traditional medicine with a percentage of 41% or 21 species (Figure 4a). Besides medicine, plants are used as food, building material and organic pesticides. The use of wild plants in forests is larger than the cultivated species ( Figure 3b). Thirty eight species were collected from the forest and 10 species were cultivated while Annona squamosa is used for medicine and food. Some plants are cultivated around the garden to make them more easily available when needed.  (Hawkes, 1983). There are 20 species of plants that are used for food (Table 2). They are fruit, vegetables, seasoning and staple food. There are 5 cultivated plants species. This island has no access to the market so they cultivate all the food plants that they need in their field or garden. Some food plants are collected from the forest.
People use rice as a staple food ( Figure 5) and grow tuber plants as alternatives. The tuber plants are mostly cultivated like Manihot esculenta and Xanthosoma sagittifolium. They eat the tuber if the rice is limited. Dioscorea hispida is collected from the forest where it is commonly found. The island also contains a variety tubers like Tacca sp. and Amorphophalus sp. but they are not utilizied because they don't know how to use them. Some fresh fruits are collected from the forest e.g. Cucurbita moschata (banda ladu), Phyllanthus emblica (

Timber plants
The Brangkuah communities utilize timber for construction and transportation equipment such as boats.
Alstonia spectabilis (Kayu batu), Protium javanicum (Loa), Pterocymbium javanicum (Haju sala) and Schleichera oleosa (Kesambi) are kinds of timber that used for building houses. The house construction contains 95% plant materials ( Figure 6). Stilt construction is needed to protect houses from wild animals such as wild pigs, dogs, and cattle, because are near the forest. For roofs, they use leaves of Cocos nucifera (Kalopo) or Imperata cylindrica (Alang-alang). For house building, they use timber cutdown from the forest.
Big trees with diameters of 30 cm are found along rivers ( Figure 7). Ficus species and Bamboo are often found along rivers too. However, people do not use bamboos for their houses. They prefer trees because they are stronger and more durable. People do not cut timber close to river since they assume that the trees maintain availability of water. The Brangkuah community has cultivated a selected plant e.g., Tectona grandis (teak) that they use in their field or garden house, it is done to reduce the utilization of timber trees from the forest.

Organic pesticides
Brangkuah communities will utilize bark of Kleinhofia hospita (entana) and Cresentia cujete (billa) fruit for organic pesticide if their crops are attacked by plant pathogens or pests. Utilization of plants for organic pesticides are shown in Table 4.

Medicine
Moyo is an isolated island. Life facilities are very limited, so they depend mainly on plants from the forests to get their needs. The limited availability of modern are plants species that they use for skin deseases. They use it to refresh their body and treat wounds. The species contain anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and antiseptic qualities (Butt et al., 1997;Damu et al., 2005;Kanchanapoom et al., 2001Kanchanapoom et al., , 2005Nayak et al., 2008;Prusti et al., 2008). Little documentation of the knowledge of local people existed, before these studies were conducted. Local knowledge of herbal medicines should be documented, so the potential species information of traditional herbs can be used in the future. Malaria is an endemic disease in the Brangkuah community. Fever is a symptom that often accompanies the disease. Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are microbial agents that cause Malaria in eastern Indonesia (Tjitra et al., 1999). The Brangkuah community also has knowledge on how to treat disease. Amaranthus spinosu, Annona squamosa, Ziziphus jujuba, is used to reduce fever. Based on the research, this plant contains antimocrobials, antioxidants to fever antimalaria, and neuro-protection (Sadiq et al., 2009;Hilou et al., 2006;Shirwaikar et al., 2004). Carica papaya and Physalis angulata are used in treating malaria. They use a simple method like crushing and boiling leaves with water then drink it.  Extracts and metabolites have been found to possess pharmacological and insecticidal qualities (Okunade, 2002), leaves have anti-inflammatory effects (Kamboj and Saloja, 2012) 2 Amaranthus spinosus L Nadu Fever Roots, added pecans and rice, boiled and then drunk Wild Methanolic extract of stem has anti-diabetic, antihyperlipidemic and spermatogenic effects (Sangameswaran and Jayakar, 2008) Antimalarial (Hilou et al.., 2006) 3 Annona squamosa L.
Garosso Fever Crushed leaves were given water and then drunk Cultivated Antioxidant to fever (Shirwaikar et al., 2004) and mosquitocidal effect (Jaswanth et al., 2002)

Roofs
The leaves are dried and then strung together to make a house roof Wild available in abundance  (Ogbuagu, 2008) Carica papaya extract has antimalarial properties, it also contains flavonoids, erpenoids, saponins, and tannins (Ayoola et al., 2008). Physalis angulata also has antimalarial properties (Sa et al., 2011). Fewer than 5% of tropical forest plant species have been examined for their chemical compounds and medicinal value (Idu, 2009). Basic information of herbal medicine can be used to develop chemical compounds of the plant.

Food
The difficulty in accessibility and limited transportation in Moyo Island make the communities isolated. Alstonia spectabilis is a favorite timber species. The preferred type of wood is hard, old and strong. Several of physical property of wood influence the quality of wood such as moisture content, wood density, shrinkage and permeability of the timber, while the mechanical properties include static bending strength, tensile strength, compressive strength, shearing strength, stiffness, toughness, hardness and cleavage resistance. The higher of wood density has positive correlation with strengthens of wood (Bowyer et al., 2003).
The Brangkuah community collects timber from the forest. Conservation becomes an important aspect to be considered because timber utilization can reduce the amount of trees in the forest. Although trees are not rare or endangered, some species are used as a host species for epiphytic orchid and ferns in general. Forests are also important for water conservation. The forest water makes springs which flow into a river. There are many big trees, so it necessary to conserve timber trees in the forest. Besides a reduction in utilization of timber trees from the forest, they could also cultivate timber plants. Besides Tectona grandis (teak), other species which can be considered to be cultivated include Alstonia spectabilis, Schleichera oleosa, Dysoxylum cauliflorum. The Brangkuah community also conserves timber plants around the river and spring. Several species of trees grow along rivers. Thirty two trees are recorded along rivers which are around the Brangkuah community (Trimanto, 2013). They call rivers "Brang". Multiple streams of spring water flow throughout the year including Brang Rea, Brang Sibaru, Brang Koa and Brang Stema. The rivers are formed by the torrential flow of the springs. People use large springs for their daily necessities. Water availability is a basic requirement of society because they rarely have wells. The river is also important to wild cattle to soak in every afternoon. In this island, people retain the presence of large trees along the flow of the spring because they are convinced that big trees are able to secure the availability of clean water every day. These communities have good knowledge to conserve the plants around of river. The values, ethics and morals of local wisdom contain prohibitions and encouragement, which has played a role in maintaining and preserving springs in this island.

Organic pesticide
The majority of people are farmers. Pests often attack paddy fields and corn. Limited fertilizers and pesticides are used because they use plants to increase agricultural production. The Brangkuah community has good knowledge about poisonous plants. They utilize Kleinhovia hospita and Crescentia cujete in pestisides. The fruit Crescentia cujete is soaked in water and water is used for organic pesticide. Bark of Kleinhovia hospita is soaked in water and water is used for organic pesticide. Based on the reserach Kleinhovia hospita has cytotoxicity (Gan et al., 2009) and Crescentia cujete has HCN toxicity (Ogbuagu, 2008).

Conclusion
This study observed that 48 plant species are used by the Brangkuah community at Moyo Island, and most of them are collected from the forest. The community uses plants for food, medicine and building material. The Brangkuah community has started to cultivate several plants for building material and food that used to be collected from the forest. The Brangkuah community has conserved several useful plants and also protected harvest methods from the wild.