Ethnobotanical Study of Traditional Medicinal Plants in and Around Fiche District , Central Ethiopia

An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants was conducted in and around Fiche District, North Shewa Zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia from September 2011 to January 2012. Ten kebeles were selected from North to South and East to West directions of Fiche District and its surroundings by purposive sampling method. Six informants including one key informant were selected from each kebele for data collection by using printed data collection sheets containing, semi-structured interview questions, group discussion and guided field walk. The plant specimens were identified by using taxonomic keys in the Floras of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics; informant consensus factor and fidelity level using MS-Excel 2010. Totally, 155 medicinal plants belonging to 128 genera and 65 families were recorded. Most medicinal plants (72.9%) were used for human healthcare in which Lamiaceae was dominant (11%) in which Ocimum lamiifolium, Otostegia integrifolia and Leonotis ocymifolia were the most common species. Herbs were dominant (43.87%) flora followed by shrubs (35.48%). The most frequently used plant parts for remedial preparation were leaves (38.1%) followed by roots (14.8%) and others. Fresh plant parts were used mostly (47.7%) followed by dried (13.5%) and the remaining (38.7%) either in fresh or dried. Among the preparations, crushing was the dominant (21.3%) form followed by squeezing (16.1%). The remedial administration was mostly oral (38.7%) followed by dermal (29%). The highest (88%) ICF was associated with intestinal parasites followed by emergency diseases (82%). The FL of Actiniopteris semiflabellata, Plantago lanceolata, Capparis tomentosa and Clerodendrum myricoides was calculated 100% irrespective of diseases. In conclusion, rich diversity of floras were mostly practiced in crude form and to prevent extinction of medicinal plants due to unsustainable anthropogenic activities, local communities need to give attention for in-situ and ex-situ conservation, which is harmonized with adoption of sustainable utilization patterns and preservation of their valuable biocultural knowledge. This documentation was first hand information and need to confirm through scientific investigation for the welfare of future generation.


INTRODUCTION
Medicinal plants play an important role in human life for therapeutic purposes (Sofowora, 1993) and popularized worldwide due to great contribution by traditional practitioners (WHO, 2003).Many indigenous local communities have developed various traditional systems using locally available resources for the alleviation of health problems (Tesfaye and Sebsebe, 2009).In developing countries up to 80% of populations depended on plants for their primary healthcare (Kurt and Andrew, 2002) and the value of medicinal plants to human livelihoods is essentially infinite (Hamilton, 2004).Medicinal plants have source for the invention of novel drugs (Wright, 2005) and 25% of modern drugs contain one or more active principles of plant origin (Medhin et al., 2001) and top 25 best selling medicines in the world originated from plant materials (Ohigashi, 2008).According to Perumal and Gopalakrishnakone (2008) plant based drugs provide outstanding contribution to modern therapeutics.
In Ethiopia, the majority of the rural populations traditionally use many plants as sources of medicine for humans and livestock (Tesfaye et al., 2009).Generally, traditional healers use roots, barks and other parts of the plant to prepare phytotherapies (Alexiades, 1996) and in the process they have developed their own local knowledge.This knowledge is transferred orally from generation to generation through herbalists and knowledgeable elders.The indigenous knowledge system in Ethiopia is not fully documented when compared to available multiethnic, cultural and flora diversity (Fisseha et al., 2009;Mirutse et al., 2009).Scientific documentation is to preserve valuable traditional knowledge for future generations (Martin, 1995;Cotton, 1996).In Ethiopia, research and documentations on medicinal plants have started in recent times even though plants used traditionally as a source of medicine since time immemorial (Mesfin and Sebsebe, 1992).Many traditional remedies are remaining hidden due to migration of people, urbanization, influence of modern medicine and exotic cultures (Tafesse and Mekonnen, 2001).
In Ethiopia, few studies have been conducted and documented on method of traditional medicine preparations by using local medicinal plants, parts used and routes of applications (Kebu et al., 2004;Haile and Delenasaw, 2007;Ragunathan and Solomon, 2007).However, there is no ethnobotanical documentation of medicinal plants in Fiche District and its surroundings.Many elderly people in this area have wellversed in traditional practices to provide remedies for human and livestock health problems.Therefore, documentation of medicinal plants and the associated knowledge in this area is important for conserving the plants, ensuring their sustainable use and to preserving the knowledge for the next generation.In this study, traditional medicinal plants used by the local healers and communities in and around Fiche District were documented and reported for the first time.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Description of the study area: Ethnobotanical study was conducted in Fiche District, North Shewa Zone of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia from September 2011 to April 2012.The geographical coordinates of the study area stretch out between 38°40'0''E-38°50'0''E and 9°42'0''N-9°52'0''N (Fig. 1) and the altitude ranges from 1901 to 2940 m.a.s.l.According to ten years meteorological data obtained from Fiche weather station, the study area received mean annual rainfall and temperature of 1139 mm and 14.4°C respectively.
Materials: Field materials such as wooden frames, cardboards, blotters, newspapers, plastic bags, cutting tools and plant diggers were used for specimen collection, pressing and drying.In addition, field printed data collection sheets like; semi-structured interview questionnaires and group discussions were used to collect the plant specimen and documentation of traditional knowledge on the medicinal plants.
Informants selection: Totally 10 kebeles were selected for the study in which four from Fiche District and six from surrounding of Fiche District.Those six Fig. 1: Map of the study area surrounding kebeles were Adisige, Dire Dou, Wedeso Amiba, Gaticho Sefane, Shebel and Toriban Ashe.The estimated population in the study area was 53, 837 in which 26, 888 (49.94%) males and 26, 949 (50.06%) were females (CSA, 2011).To avoid biased sampling, surrounding kebeles were selected from North to South and East to West directions using purposive sampling method.From each kebele, six informants were selected including one key informant from the age of 20 and above.Totally 60 informants, 32 men and 28 women were selected for this study.The key informants were selected based on the association of elders, local authorities, traditional healers and local farmers as recommended by Martin (1995).The remaining 50 general informants (5 per kebele) were selected randomly at every 150m interval based on their ethnobotanical knowledge and traditional practices.In order to determine the degree of information consistency, each informant was repeatedly crosschecked and interviewed at least twice.
Ethnobotanical data collection: Cunningham (1996) recommendation was strictly followed and informants were clearly informed about the purpose of this research.The primary data were collected directly from the informants in the study area by semistructured interviews, group and individual focused discussions, field visits and informal conversations.During group discussion, necessary information related to medicinal plants, mode of preparation, routes of application, type of diseases, parts of the plant used for preparation of remedies were documented systematically to obtain detail quantitative and qualitative data.The medicinal plants used for various diseases were collected from the study area in cooperation with the local practitioners.The plant materials were used to prepare herbarium specimens and the identity confirmed at the National Herbarium of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University using taxonomic keys and different volumes of Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea.Finally, identified specimens were deposited at the National Herbarium of Ethiopia for future reference.
Data analysis: Descriptive statistics were used for qualitatitve and quantitative data analysis by using Microsoft Excel 2010.The statistical tools were used to identify the most common ailments in the study area includes, popularly used medicinal plant species, proportions of different variables like plant families, growth forms, plant parts used, methods of preparation and percentage frequency.The informant consensus factor for most frequently reported disease categories was calculated in order to evaluate the reliability of the information provided by the informants following the methods of Alexiades (1996) and Phillips (1996).The following formula recommended by Trotter and Logan (1986)  The Fidelity Level (FL) index was calculated based on the formula recommended by Friedman et al. (1986) which is used to quantify the importance of a given species for a particular purpose in a given cultural group or to determine the most prefered plants for a treatment of a particular disease and calculated as: where, Np : Number of use-reports cited for a given species for a particular ailment N : Total number of use-reports cited for any given species

Medicinal plants recorded:
Medicinal plants used by the traditional healers from Fiche District and its environment are presented in Table 1.From the study area, 155 ethnomedicinal plant species belonging to 128 genera and 65 families were collected with the guidance of local people.The medicinal plants were identified and preserved in the National Herbarium (ETH), Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.Among the total plants recorded, Lamiaceae was the most dominant family contained 17 species (11%) followed by Asteraceae 13 species (8.4%), Fabaceae 11 species (7.1%) and Solanaceae 9 species (6%), respectively.Among those plant species, Aloe pulcherrima, Impatiens rothii, Laggera tomentosa, Solanecio gigas, Urtica simensis, Vernonia leopoldi, Gomphocarpus purpurascens, Kalanchoe petitiana, Lippia adoensis and Thymus schimperi are endemic to Ethiopia.Out of 155 species, 105 (67.7%) were collected from the natural habitats and 50 (32.3%)from homegardens and farming sites.Among these, the majority (43.87%) were herbs followed by shrubs (35.48%), trees (14.84%) and climbers (5.81%) respectively.The data recorded from the practitioners indicates that, most ethnomedicinal plants were used for human healthcare (Fig. 2).

Parts and conditions of medicinal plants used:
The various parts of the plants used as different remedies are summarized in Fig. 3. Results revealed that greater proportion was leaves (38.1%) followed by roots (14.8%) and others.The informants indicated that fresh plant materials were used more frequently (47.7%) followed by dried (13.5%) and the remaining (38.7%) plants were used in either fresh or in dried form for remedial preparation.

Methods of remedy preparations and application:
Traditional healers in the study area used various a type of preparations in which crushing was the dominant (21.3%) type followed by squeezing (16.1%).The remaining methods of preparation and their percentage are indicated in Fig. 4. Preparations were administered mostly by oral (38.7%) followed by dermal (29%), oral and dermal (14.8%), oral, dermal and nasal (3.9%), dermal and nasal (3.2%), auricular (2.6%) and the remaining; oral and nasal; optical; nasal; oral, dermal and optical each share equally 1.9% based on the type of disease.
Informant consensus factor (ICF) of medicinal plants: Informant consensus factor was calculated for frequently reported diseases categories and presented in Table 2. Results revealed that the highest percentage (88%) of ICF was linked to problems associated with intestinal parasites followed by emergency diseases (82%).The least (33%) ICF was associated with organ diseases.

DISCUSSION
Plants are used for various ailments is an age-old practices since time immemorial.The documentation of medicinal plants is gaining recognition in recent times in order to preserve the knowledge for the next generation and also make effective use of the resources.In this connection 155 medicinal plants and their parts utilized for various treatments, mode of application and method of process were documented from Fiche District and its environment.In this place, huge numbers of traditional healers are practicing from generation to generation by obtaining knowledge from their elders and also through learning.From the collected and documented medicinal plants, the most dominant families was Lamiaceae.Most of the Lamiaceae plants are shrubs and herbs and mostly they contain aromatic secondary metabolites, which may be effective in curing various diseases.Based on evidence and availability theory, Stepp and Moerman (2002) suggested that these plants concentrate very active biological compounds as a function of their life strategies.The earlier works of Almeida and Albuquerque (2002) also indicated that family Lamiaceae was classified as the richest species in their study areas.According to Bennett and Prance (2000) most (21%) of the medicinal plants from their survey belong to the Lamiaceae and Asteraceae family.The preference of Lamiaceae family by the traditional healers may be related to their availability, wide range of distribution even in disturbed areas and potential biological properties in their secondary metabolities.
The second dominant family in human health treatment in the study area was Asteraceae.However, some other ethnobotanical investigators (Seyoum, 2009;Getaneh, 2011) observed Asteraceae was dominant in their study area.This may be related to geographical location, socioeconomic status of the local communities and other cultural reasons.Another possible reason may be related to the extent of ethnobotanical exploration in their study area or the entire area may have been not exhaustively explored.Tesfaye and Sebsebe (2009) suggested that detailed information on the medicinal plants need to be undertaken in various parts of Ethiopia where little or no ethnobotanical explorations have been made.Our, documentation of traditional medicinal plants is the first hand ethnobotanical information.
In the study area, most of the plants were used to treat human diseases followed by human and livestock (Fig. 2).Among the 155 medicinal plants, 113 species were used for the treatment of 69 human ailments, whereas 12 species were used to treat five livestock ailments and 30 species were used to treat 14 ailments affecting both human and livestock.The majority of the medicinal plants were used to treat more human diseases than livestock due to some frequently occurring human diseases such as abdominal pain, evil eye, febrile illness, snake biting, tonsillitis, cough, intestinal parasites, malaria, ringworm, wound and amoebiasis.The rural people in the study area are not easily access the modern medical facilities due to their socioeconomic status.Dawit (2001) and Kurt and Andrew (2002) reported that 80% of the Ethiopian people still use plant remedies for various ailments.In Ethiopia, many researchers reported similar findings from their study sites (Mirutse et al., 2009;Tesfaye and Sebsebe, 2009).The healers in the study area collect medicinal plants mostly from the natural habitats due to availability.The wild areas are the sources of most ethnomedicinal plants (Zemede, 1999;Mirutse et al., 2003).Some of the important plants such as Buddleja polystachya, Clutia abyssinica, Dovyalis abyssinica, Gomphocarpus purpurascens and Rumex nervosus were given attention to grow in homegardens and the healers need professional support to conserve the medicinal plants under in-situ and ex-situ methods.The majority (43.87%) of the traditional medicinal plants were herbs followed by shrubs (35.48%) because herbs are mostly available during the wet and late rainy season compared to shrubs and tree species and the present study was also carried out during wet season.In Ethiopia, many researchers also reported that herbs were commonly used medicinal plants (Mirutse et al., 2003;Debela et al., 2006;Tesfaye et al., 2009).
The most commonly used plant parts (Fig. 3) for herbal preparations in the study area were leaves (38.1%) followed by roots (14.8%).The leaves may be containing most of the bioactive secondary metabolities compared to other parts.Another reason leaves are the renewal and easily accessible part of the plants and their utilization do not put medicinal plants at risk of extinction over a period.In Ethiopia, several studies reported that leaves were commonly used plant parts to treat various health problems (Dawit and Estifanos, 1991;Mirutse and Gobena, 2003).Most of the traditional medicinal plants were used in fresh form (47.7%) followed by dried (13.5%) plants.The reason for preference of fresh plants over dried ones may be related to the fact that the biologically active principles present in the leaves may decrease up on drying.Many researcher also observed similar findings elsewhere (Mirutse et al., 2009;Nayyar and Suman, 2010;Gidey et al., 2011).
The local communities used various methods of preparation for different types of human and livestock ailments (Fig. 4).Most of the healers used crushing (21.3 %), squeezing (16.1%) and powdering (14.8%) in descending order.In most cases, preparing plant remedies by crushing or squeezing is advantageous over using decoction since heat may affect the active constituents of the remedies.This finding was in line with earlier results; in which crushing was the common type of preparation (Seyoum, 2009).The prepared remedies were administered through oral (38.7%), dermal (29%), oral and dermal (14.8%), oral, dermal and nasal (3.9%) and dermal and nasal (3.2%) based on the nature and conditions of patients.In the study area the people are mostly affected by endoparasites and this may be one of the reasons for the dominance of oral administration.There are many ethnobotanical researchers reported similar findings elsewhere in Ethiopia (Getachew et al., 2001(Getachew et al., , 1999;;Kebu et al., 2004;Teshale et al., 2004;Haile and Delenasaw, 2007;Gidey et al., 2011).
The highest (0.88) Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) of the medicinal plants was associated with problems of intestinal parasite (Table 2).It includes amoebiasis, ascariasis, tapeworm, abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting.The emergency diseases such as febrile illness, common cold, stabbing pain, headache and legache stood ICF value of 0.82.If plants are chosen randomly and there is no exchange of information about their use among informants, ICF values are low, near to zero.On the other hand, when information is exchanged between informants or there is a well-defined selection criterion in the community, ICF approaches to one (Gazzaneo et al., 2005).High ICF value was calculated for most of the traditional medicinal plants in this study and medicinal tradition is viewed as well defined if a high degree of ICF is recorded (Heinrich, 2000).
The fidelity level (FL) of Actiniopteris semiflabellata and Plantago lanceolata for wound and, Capparis tomentosa and Clerodendrum myricoides for evil eye was showed 100% followed by Ocimium lamiifolium for febrile illness (96%) and Polygala abyssinica for snake biting (90%) (Table 3).Generally, high FL indicates that, all use reports refer to the same way of using it, whereas low FLs are obtained for plants that are used for many different purposes.
In conclusion, traditional medicinal plants are the main source used by the local healers in Fiche district and its surroundings due to rich diversity of the flora.The knowledge difference was also observed in the study area because most of the practitioners were middle aged (31-51 years).Most of the knowledgeable people are kept the knowledge as a secrete within their family members and this may put the continuity of medicinal plants and associated indigenous knowledge in question.Due to modernization in agricultural practices, the biodiversity of medicinal flora started degrading and most of the valuable medicinal plants are under threatening conditions.The healers and local communities need to give special attention for potential medicinal plants to cultivate in their home gardens.Most of the traditional practices are only in the documentation level and must be confirmed scientifically for the welfare of future generations.The ethnobotanical information documented from this field research was a first contribution for scientific publication.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors are thankful to Elizabeth d'Avigdor (Southern Cross University, Australia) for her financial support to conduct this research.We are also grateful to the local communities of Fiche District and its environment, who have participated in sharing their traditional indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants.
of use-reports for a particular use category Nt : Number of taxa used for a particular use category by all informants

Fig. 2 :
Fig. 2: Medicinal plants used for the treatment

Table 1 :
List of traditional medicinal plants used to treat human and livestock health problems, A-Amharic, Or-Oromifa; AE-Abiyu Enyew Chenopodium ambrosioides L., Chenopodiaceae, (AE 137) Amedmado (A) Tonsillitis, Leprosy Dried root and leaf powder is mixed with little water and given orally Wound Fresh root and leaf juice is given for topical application Citrus limon (L.) Burm.F., Rutaceae, (AE 154) Lomi (A) Coccidiosis Fruit juice, leaf of Leonoti socymifolia and seed of Lepidium sativum, Salvia schiperi, Ruta chalepensis and Allium sativum, mixed together in water and given orally to hen Amoebiasis, Hypertension Fresh juice is mixed with tomato and given orally

Table 1 :
Continue Clematis simensis Fresen., Ranunculaceae, (AE 90) Fresh leaf and root juice is given orally for human and livestock Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Arn., Fabaceae, (AE 104) Ader (A) Scorpion bite Fresh stem bark is crushed and applied Discopodium penninervium Hochst., Solanaceae, (AE 85) Rajii (Or) Repellent, Detoxification Fresh leaf is crushed and rubbed on the skin Dodonaea angustifolia L.f., Sapindaceae, (AE 32) Kitkita (A) Evil eye Dried leaf is mixed with leaf of Acokantheraschimperi, powdered and given Dried or fresh leaf is mixed with Leonotisocymifolia and Rutachalepensis to prepare juice and given orally to human and livestock

Table 2 :
Informant consensus factor of medicinal plants for seven categories of frequently reported diseases