Tribal Medicinal Plants: Documentation of Medicinal Plants Used by a Mogh Tribal Healer in Bandarban District, Bangladesh

Chittagong Hill Tracts region in the southeast portion of Bangladesh is considered a hotspot for medicinal plants. This hilly forested region is inhabited by a number of tribal communities, both large and small, and who still rely on their age-old traditional medicinal practitioners (TMPs) and their mainly phytotherapeutic practices for treatment and cure of various diseases. Since many important allopathic drugs have been discovered through documentation and studies of medicinal plants used by indigenous and tribal people, it was the objective of the present study to document the medicinal plants used by a Mogh (also called Marma) TMP, who claimed his original arrival in Bangladesh from Myanmar several decades ago. Information on ten plants was obtained from the TMP. The plants were distributed into ten families. The TMP used the plants to treat various disorders like tumor, gastrointestinal disorders, paralysis, pain, fever, convulsions, leucorrhea, and antidote to poisoning and as a muscle relaxant. Tumor, paralysis and convulsions (the latter may be due to epilepsy) are serious disorders. Gastrointestinal disorders can be chronic in Bangladesh and so needs effective treatment, which is also affordable. The medicinal plants used by the TMP merit scientific attention because further research can lead to discovery of lead compounds and new drugs.

Keywords:Mogh; Tribal healer; Medicinal plants; Chittagong hill tracts; Phytotherapy