Study of medicinal plant used by the ethnic community of Karo around Lau Debuk-Debuk Tourism Park, Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Communities with habitat around the forest have used traditional medicine for quite long to maintain their health and treat various diseases. This research aimed to find out the medicinal plants utilized by the communities around Lau Debuk-debuk Tourism Park and to know the utilization of the medicinal plant species. This research implemented two approaches which consisted of field survey in two selected villages (Semangat Gunung Village and Doulu Village). There were sixty species of medicinal plants commonly used by people around Lau Debuk-Debuk Tourism Park. Parts of the plant used as medicines were leaves, root, flowers, plant bark, stem, and tubers. It was found that leaves are most widely used by people of both villages. The current research enlarges the knowledge of the application of endemic plants growing in the investigated area.