Wangchuk Phurpa, Namgay Kuenga, Gayleg Karma, Dorji Yeshi
Queensland Tropical Health Alliance, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns campus, QLD, 4878, Australia.
Policy and Planning Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Forest, Thimphu, Bhutan.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2016 Jun 24;12(1):28. doi: 10.1186/s13002-016-0098-7.
The traditional g.so-ba-rig-pa hospitals in Bhutan uses more than 100 polyingredient medicines that are manufactured by the Menjong Sorig Pharmaceuticals (MSP). The MSP has been collecting medicinal plants from Lingzhi region for about 48 years and therefore the ecological pressure on these plants have increased. It is MSP's top priority to identify an alternative collection site to ease the problem. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine whether Dagala region could potentially be an alternative collection site for MSP.
First the multidisciplinary research team generated a tentative plant list by reviewing a body of ancient g.so-ba-rig-pa literature, current formulations, and the MSP medicinal plants inventory documents. Second, the research team visited the study areas in Dagala region for spot identification of medicinal plants. Third, we confirmed our traditional and botanical identification by crosschecking the descriptions with the series of books on traditional texts, Flora of Bhutan, scientific papers on medicinal plants, and the plant databases.
We have identified 100 species of high altitude medicinal plants from Dagala region. Of these, 24 species grow abundantly, 29 species grow in moderate numbers and 47 species were scarce. More than 85 species belonged to the herbaceous life form and 51 of them are used as a whole plant. A total of 68 species grow in between 4000 and 4999 meter above sea level. These 100 medicinal plants represented 39 different families and 80 genera and the maximum number of plants belonged to the family Asteraceae. Of 60 species that are currently used for formulating medicines at MSP, 16 species have economic importance with potential for commercial collection. Out of seven areas covered by the survey, Kipchen hosted maximum number of medicinal plants (21 species).
Our survey identified 100 medicinal plants from Dagala region and of these, 16 species has economic potential that could benefit both MSP and Dagala communities. It is feasible to establish an alternative medicinal plants collection center in Dagala Gewog.
不丹传统的藏医医院使用100多种由门仲索日药业（MSP）生产的复方药物。MSP从灵芝地区采集药用植物已有约48年，因此这些植物面临的生态压力增大。确定一个替代采集地点以缓解这一问题是MSP的首要任务。因此，开展本研究以确定达加拉地区是否有可能成为MSP的替代采集地点。
首先，多学科研究团队通过查阅大量古代藏医文献、现有配方以及MSP药用植物清单文件，生成了一份初步的植物清单。其次，研究团队走访了达加拉地区的研究区域，对药用植物进行实地鉴定。第三，我们通过将描述与一系列传统文献书籍、《不丹植物志》、药用植物科学论文以及植物数据库进行核对，确认了我们的传统鉴定和植物学鉴定。
我们已从达加拉地区鉴定出100种高海拔药用植物。其中，24种生长繁茂，29种数量适中，47种稀少。超过85种属于草本植物形态，其中51种整株入药。共有68种生长在海拔4000至4999米之间。这100种药用植物代表了39个不同的科和80个属，其中数量最多的植物属于菊科。在目前MSP用于制药的60种植物中，16种具有经济重要性，有商业采集的潜力。在所调查的七个区域中，基普钦的药用植物数量最多（21种）。
我们的调查从达加拉地区鉴定出100种药用植物，其中16种具有经济潜力，可为MSP和达加拉社区带来益处。在达加拉格窝建立一个替代药用植物采集中心是可行的。
