Ethnopharmacological survey of Bavi tribe (Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran)

Background and Purpose:

Ethnopharmacology has been one of the important sources for drug discovery from ancient times. The principles of ethnopharmacology research include compiling a list of plants used by an ethnic group and explaining how these plants are utilized by individuals. Basht and Gachsaran regions in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, residence place of Bavi tribe, are the habitat of different plant species that used for therapeutic purposes.

Information was obtained via interviews and questionnaires from eleven local healers. Subsequently, the plant samples mentioned by local healers were collected by a researcher and identified by a botanist. The results were arranged in tables based on therapeutics uses, plant families, part of plant used, route of administration, and disease categories according to the 2019 International Classification of Diseases. Finally, the informant consensus factor was analyzed.

56 herbal therapeutic agents are used in Bavi tribe. Most therapeutical recommendations were for gastrointestinal diseases with a frequency of fifty herbs. Lamiaceae was recognized as the most used family with seven plants. The main plant parts used in this tribe were aerial parts. The most used mode of administration in this tribe was decoction with a frequency of 72 instances. The highest informant consensus factor in plant species was related to skin diseases with a value of 0.35 and the highest informant consensus factor in plant families was in the category of pregnancy, childbirth, or the puerperium with a value of 0.75.

Given the wide range of herbal medicine use in this tribe, the urgent need to preserve this indigenous knowledge, use it for the benefit of the ethnic group, and protect intellectual property rights of this knowledge for this ethnic group is essential. In this regard, it is recommended that appropriate cultural, legal, and regulatory actions be taken to preserve and expand the ethnopharmacology of ethnic tribes.