Ethnobotanical Study of Muchu Vdc in Humla District

Abstract

Humla is one of the remote mountainous districts situated in the northwest corner of Nepal bordering with China. The main objective of research is to assess the ethnobotanical study of Muchu VDC and to know the similarity of ethnobotanical and conservation knowledge of different age people. Research was carried out in 9 wards of Muchu VDC Humla. Data collection with other required information was collected on June 2010. Semi structured questionnaire was conducted randomly in Muchu VDC. Likewise, the questionnaire survey was supplemented with the interviews, group discussions, different informal interaction, and direct field observation. The data of consensus analysis were analyzed through PAST software. This study documented the traditional ethnobotanical knowledge of Lama Community of upper Humla. The study could identified and documented 148 species of plants, out of which 17% are cultivated in the fields, 72% are available in nearby forest and lekh and remaining 11 % are found both in wild and cultivated form. Among them maximum 71% of plants are herbs and least 1% of them are Creeper. In lama community there have a wide range of knowledge on the use of plants for various purposes here 69% plants are reported to be of single use, 23% with double use and 8% with triple use. Especially old age people have very good knowledge of plant species and their uses. This is one of the best technologies in such remote area where there are no facilities of healthcare center. However, the consensus analysis shows no agreement of ethnobotanical and conservation knowledge of different age people. It is possibly due to the attraction of new generation towards allopathic medicine, commercialization of medicinal herbs and influences of modernization cause the traditional ethnobotanical knowledge diminishing slowly. Therefore, the traditional ethnobotanical knowledge should be preserved, promoted and disseminated.

Keywords: Ethnobotanical knowledge, Medicinal plants, Traditional medicine, Humla, Consensus analysis