Ethnobotanical Applications of Medicinal Plants
Summary
Ethnobotany explores how cultural groups use plants for health, combining botanical science with anthropology to preserve traditional knowledge and inform modern drug discovery. Across continents, indigenous communities have catalogued hundreds of plant species valued for their therapeutic properties, from remedies for gastrointestinal ailments to treatments for infections and chronic conditions. Leaves, roots and barks are harvested and prepared as decoctions, infusions or topical pastes, reflecting locally available flora and customary practices. Quantitative indices such as use value and informant consensus factor offer standardised metrics to prioritise species for phytochemical analysis and conservation. Contemporary surveys reveal that many medicinal plants remain under threat from land-use change and overharvesting, highlighting the urgency of integrated in situ and ex situ conservation strategies. In parallel, advances in phytochemistry and bioassays have begun to validate traditional uses, identifying bioactive compounds with antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities. The global significance of ethnobotanical research lies in its dual role: safeguarding cultural heritage and guiding the sustainable development of novel therapeutics.
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Ethnobotanical Applications of Medicinal Plants publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in ethnobotanical applications of medicinal plants across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Ethnobotany: The interdisciplinary study of how people of particular cultures and regions make use of indigenous plants.
Informant consensus factor (ICF): A numerical value reflecting agreement among interviewees on plant use for specific ailment categories.
Use value (UV): A quantitative index representing the relative importance of a plant species based on the number of uses reported by informants.
Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC): The lowest concentration of a substance required to prevent visible growth of a microorganism in vitro.
Phytochemical screening: Laboratory techniques used to identify bioactive chemical constituents in plant extracts.
References
- Medicinal Plants Used for Traditional Medicine in Ethnobotanical Studies in Nagari Padang Laweh, Sijunjung Regency. BioScience (2023).
- Ethnobotanical study of traditional medicinal plants used to treat human ailments in West Shewa community, Oromia, Ethiopia. Frontiers in Pharmacology (2024).
- Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Selected Medicinal Plants from Addis Ababa against MDR-Uropathogenic Bacteria. International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2024).
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