Medicinal plants An important asset to health care in a region of Central Laos》.pdfVIP

Journal of Ethnopharmacology 106 (2006) 303–311 Medicinal plants: An important asset to health care in a region of Central Laos A. Libman a , S. Bouamanivongb , B. Southavongb , K. Sydarab , D.D. Soejarto a,∗ a Progam for Collaborative Research in the Pharmaceutical Sciences (PCRPS), College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 833 S. Wood St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA b Traditional Medicine Research Center, Ministry of Health, Lao Democratic People’s Republic Received 11 November 2005; received in revised form 25 November 2005; accepted 25 November 2005 Available online 13 February 2006 Abstract A field survey of commonly used medicinal plants in the district of Paksan, Bolikhamsai Province in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao P.D.R.) indicates that 55 species of plants, belonging to 49 genera in 31 families of vascular plants, are used in day-to-day medical therapy. Lao names along with uses and preparations for remedies are given. Seven species have medicinal uses that overlap with uses reported in the literature. No medicinal uses have been previously reported for 31 of the species collected based on ethnobotanical field interviews, signifying that their uses may be unique to Laos. Nine of the 31 previously unreported species are mentioned as medicinals multiple times, indicating that further research may be warranted. © 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Laos; Medicinal plants; Ethnobotany 1. Introduction The government of Lao P.D.R. has been working to learn