title: Ethnomedicinal practices in the highlands of central Nepal: a case study of Syaphru and Langtang village in Rasuwa district.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present paper documents the utilization of medicinal plants for the treatment of various human ailments in two village development committees in the Rasuwa district of central Nepal. It also evaluates the ethnopharmacological significance of the documented reports and identifies species of high indigenous priority in local therapeutics.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ethnobotanical information was collected by interviews and group discussions using standard ethnobotanical procedures. The homogeneity of informant׳s knowledge was validated by Informant consensus factor (F(IC)) and the relative importance of a plant species used as medicine in the study area was calculated with the help of use value (UV).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The present study identified a total of 46 medicinal plants belonging to 26 families used for the treatment of 38 human ailments. Besides medicinal uses, the study has also documented the culinary and cultural use of 13 species of medicinal plants. The most commonly used part was root constituting about 42% of the total utilized plants. The most commonly used form of preparation was paste (31.91%). We found new usage reports for 9 medicinal plants. The F(IC) value in the present study ranged from 0.66 to 1 with 84.6% values greater than 0.8 indicating high consensus among the informants. The most preferred species was Neopicrorhiza scrophulariflora (UV=0.96) and the lowest used value was found for Lyonia ovalifolia (UV=0.32).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  People of Rasuwa possess rich traditional knowledge in medicinal plants utilization with strong consensus among local people on the utilization of species evident by higher F(IC) values in different ailment categories. Strong pharmacological evidence for a majority of species being currently used as medicines shows that the plants used in local therapeutics are likely to be more effective in treating different medical ailments. The bioactive compounds extracted from these medicinal plants could subsequently be used in the creation of novel drugs to treat life threatening human diseases. The species with high use values are the ones likely to be more vulnerable because of high demand and high collection pressure. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritize such species for cultivation and sustainable management in order to ensure their long term availability.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: nawalshrestha@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nawal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.affiliation: 2526 Banshire Dr. Herndon, Virginia 20171, USA.
authors.forename: Deepshikha
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prasai
authors.affiliation: Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Krishna Kumar
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.affiliation: Dhankuta Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan Univeristy, Dhankuta, Nepal.
authors.forename: Saugat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Chun
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003625:Data Collection; D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D009390:Nepal; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000145:classification; D012423:Rural Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations
keywords: Ethnomedicine; Indigenous knowledge; Informant consensus factor; Langtang national park; Medicinal plants