Plants used in traditional medicine for treatment of malaria by Tetun ethnic people in West Timor Indonesia

Objective: To document the medicinal plants used for the treatment of malaria by the Tetun ethnic people in West Timor–Indonesia. Methods: The ethnobotany and anthropology methods were used in the field surveys. Ninety four informants from 29 villages of 15 sub-districts in Belu and Malaka were inte...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine
Main Authors: Maximus M Taek, Bambang EW Prajogo, Mangestuti Agil
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4103/1995-7645.246339
https://doaj.org/article/5a75446da45749079b2091126bcfc922
Description
Summary:Objective: To document the medicinal plants used for the treatment of malaria by the Tetun ethnic people in West Timor–Indonesia. Methods: The ethnobotany and anthropology methods were used in the field surveys. Ninety four informants from 29 villages of 15 sub-districts in Belu and Malaka were interviewed since April to December 2017. Medicinal plants specimen were collected from the field and identified according to taxonomic methods. Results: Ninety six medicinal plants species belong to 41 families were found to be used by the Tetun ethnic people in their traditional medicine for the treatment of malaria. These plants have been used in various formulas for drinking, massage, bath, inhalation or cataplasm. Strychnos ligustrina, Calotropis gigantea, Cleome rutidosperma, Physalis angulata, Alstonia spectabilis, Carica papaya, Melia azedarach, Alstonia scholaris, Jatropha curcas, Garuga floribunda, and Tamarindus indica were the most cited plants. Conclusions: The documented plants are valuable sources for the future development of new drugs and strategies to support malaria eliminating programs that are culturally acceptable in these areas.