Ethno botanical study of medicinal plants used to treat human ailments in Sebeta Hawas District, Surround Finfine Special Zone of Oromia Regional State, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used to treat human ailments by local people in Sebeta Hawas District; Oromiya Regional State was conducted from October 2016 to September2017. Semi-structured interviews, field observations and various ranking and comparison methods were employed and information was collected from a sample of 48 informants (14 females and 3 4 males). These included 8 key and 40 randomly selected informants. A total of 56 plant species were collected, and all of them were claimed to be traditional medicinal plants. The Lamiaceae, which contributed 7 (12.50%) species, stood first followed by Fabaceae, Solanaceae and Euphorbiaceae with 6, 5 and 4 species respectively Most of the species (36) were collected from the wild while 12 were collected from homegardens. A total of 56 species were mentioned for the treatment of 34 human ailments. Herbs were the most used plants, accounting for 26 (46.42%) species, followed by shrubs, trees and climbers. The most frequently used plant part was the leaves (53.57%) and fresh plant materials (53.57%). The common route medicine administration were oral (57.14%), followed by dermal and nasal. Some of the remedies are taken with additives and solvents including water (39%), honey (21%) and butter (13%). The most widely used method of preparation was crushing (23.21%) chewing (19.64%) followed by pounding (16%). The most commonly used application of medicinal plant was drinking (19.64%) followed by eating (12.5%) and put on (8.92%).Medicinal plants with higher informant consensus included Ruta chalepensis,Citrus limon and Cymbopogon citratus, while the disease category with the highest ICF value (0.96) was fibril illness.