Ethnomedicinal plants of the Pankho community of Bilaichari Union in Rangamati district, Bangladesh.

The Pankhos are a small tribal community inhabiting particularly the Rangamati district of Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast portion of Bangladesh. It was of interest to document their traditional medicinal practices because other tribes in the region have a long history and rich tradition of their medicinal practices. Accordingly, an ethnomedicinal survey was carried out among the Pankho community tribal medicinal practitioners in two villages of the community in Bilaichari Union of Rangamati District in Bangladesh. Two healers were observed to be practicing within the community. A total of 39 formulations were obtained from the healers in which 41 medicinal plants were used. These medicinal plants were distributed into 26 families. The healers mostly treated common ailments like gastrointestinal…