Int. J. Med. Arom.

Plants, ISSN 2249 – 4340

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 486-491, December 2013

Medicinal plants for snake bite and sexual dysfunction in Jessore and
Bagerhat districts of Bangladesh
Mohitosh BISWAS1*, Debendra Nath ROY2, Md. Mahbubur RAHMAN1, Mosharaf HOSSEN1
1
Department of Pharmacy, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh.
2
Department of Pharmacy, Jessore Science and Technology University, Jessore-7408, Bangladesh.

Article History: Received 1st December 2013, Revised 26th December 2013, Accepted 27th December 2013.

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to conduct an ethnobotanical survey on medicinal plants used by local me-
dicinal plants practitioner for the treatment of snake bite and sexual dysfunction in Jessore and Bagerhat district of Bang-
ladesh. It was found that a total of 35 plant species distributed in to 29 families are used for the ailment of diseases in
which six plants are used in the treatment of snake bite and 29 plants are used in the treatment of sexual dysfunction. The
plant parts used in their formulations were roots, seeds, fruits, flowers, rhizomes, decoctions, leaves, whole plants, wood
and ash among which roots were 25.71% of total use, seeds were 28.57%, flowers were 11.43%, fruits were 5.71%, rhi-
zomes were 5.71, decoctions were 5.71%, leaves, wood and ash were 2.86% followed by whole plant at 5.71%. Among
ailments treated were erectile dysfunction, libido, low sperm count, night pollution, premature ejaculation, orgasm, coitus
power and duration, spermatorrhoea as well as snake bite. Although they could not say the mechanism of action of their
preparation but the recovery of diseases were excellent. Therefore, this ethnobotanical survey may provide a base to start
the search for the new compounds related to pharmacognosy, phytochemistry and pharmacology for the exploration of
the scientific knowledge to valid their utilization.
Keywords: Snake bite; sexual dysfunction; ethonobotany; medicinal plants; Bangladesh.

Introduction practitioners before visiting a medical centre.

Owing to the delay, several victims die during
Snake-bite is an important and serious prob-
journey to the hospital (Hasson et al., 2009;
lem in many parts of the world, especially in
Meenatchisundaram et al., 2009). Snakebite has
South Asian countries. Almost 80% of people in
become a public health problem in rural areas of
developing countries depend on traditional med-
icines for primary health care, most of which are the country, as estimated 6,041 individuals die
derived from the plants. Since ancient times, from snake bites every year, revealed a study
snakes have been worshipped, feared, or loathed conducted in 2009 by Directorate General of
in South Asia. Cobras appear in many tales and Health Services (DGHS) in Bangladesh. About
myths and are regarded as sacred by both Hin- 35,000 to 50,000 people die of snake bite every
dus and Buddhists. Unfortunately, snakes re- year in India and 1.5 lacks all over the world
(Bawaskar, 2004). Over the years many at-
main a painful reality in the daily life of mil-
tempts have been made for the development of
lions of villagers in this region. Snake bite is an
snake venom antagonists especially from plant
important occupational injury affecting farmers,
sources. Several medicinal plants which appear
plantation workers, herders, and fishermen.
in old drug recipes or which have been passed
Open-style habitation and the practice of sleep-
on by oral tradition are believed to be snake bite
ing on the floor also expose people to bites from
antidotes. Traditional herbal medicine is readily
nocturnal snakes. Bites are more frequent in
available in rural areas for the treatment of
young men, and generally occur on lower limbs.
snakebite. Application of the plant or its sap on-
Snake-bites are the common cause of morbidity
to the bite area, chewing leaves and bark or
and mortality in tropical countries (Basha and
drinking plant extracts or decoctions are some
Sudarsanam, 2012). It has been reported that in
procedures intended to counteract snake venom
most developing countries, up to 80% of indi-
activity. Plants are used either single or in com-
viduals bitten by snakes first consult traditional
bination as antidotes for snake envenomation by

*Corresponding author: (E-mail) biswas_07pharm <@> ru.ac.bd http://www.openaccessscience.com

© 2013 Copyright by the Authors, licensee Open Access Science Research Publisher. ijmap@openaccessscience.com
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-
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Int. J. Med. Arom. Plants Medicinal plants for snake bite and sexual dysfunction in Bangladesh
rural populations in Bangladesh and in many
parts of the world. Many Indian medicinal
plants are recommended for the treatment of
snakebite (Alam and Gomes, 2003).
Although sexual dysfunction is an important
public-health problem in Bangladesh, little re-
search has been conducted on this topic in
Bangladesh. Sexual dysfunction is a group of
disorders associated with desire, arousal, or-
gasm, and painful sex (Phillips, 2000). Sexual
intercourse is as old as humanity itself and is
necessary for the propagation of the species.
Sexual intercourse is not only influenced by the
integrity of the genital tract but also by the lim-
bic system and spinal arousal centres (Barton
and Jonbert, 2000; Berman et al., 1999). Avail-
able information shows that female sexual dys-
function is common and occurs in 22-43% of
women (Goldstein, 2000) and 30-50% of Amer-
ican women (Berman and Goldstein, 2001). The
prevalence rates in South Asia, especially in
Bangladesh are significant. Due to rare availa-
bility and toxicity of allopathic sexual drugs, the
popularity of herbal sexual drugs is increasing
day by day in Bangladesh. A lot of herbal drug
manufacturers are marketing enormous sexual
herbal drugs containing different aphrodisiac
medicinal plants every day in Bangladesh.
Ethnobotany, the interaction between plants and
people involves traditional use of medicinal
plants by indigenous communities and man-
agement of plant diversity by the aboriginals
(Ishtiaq and Hanif, 2007). Traditional herbal
medicine is readily available in rural areas for
the treatment of snakebite. Application of the
plant or its sap onto the bite area, chewing
leaves and bark or drinking plant extracts or de-
coctions are some procedures intended to coun-
teract snake venom activity. Plants are used ei-
ther single or in combination, as antidotes for
snake envenomation by rural populations in In-
dia and in many parts of the world (Samy and
Thwin, 2008). A large segment of both the rural
as well as the urban population of Bangladesh
still relies on folk medicinal practitioners, oth-
erwise known as Kavirajes, for treatment of
snake bite and sexual dysfunction. The
Kavirajes rely on simple formulations of medic-
inal plants, which may be orally or topically
administered for the ailment of snake bite and
sexual dysfunction. In the present survey study,
Biswas et al.
487
the data collected on medicinal plants were cor-
related to the scientific evidence of their utiliza-
tion.
Material and methods
Study area
Data were collected from Dohori and
Mongla of Jessore and Bagerhat district of
Khulna Division in Bangladesh respectively.
Jessore is bounded by Jhenaidaha and Magura
districts at the north, Satkhira and Khulna dis-
tricts at the south, Narail and Khulna districts at
the east, and West Bengal of India at the west.
Bagerhat is bounded by Gopalganj District and
Narail District on the north, The Bay of Bengal
on the south, Gopalganj District, Pirojpur Dis-
trict and Barguna District on the east and Khul-
na District on the west.
Study population
A total of 03 Kavirajes from two villages of
Jessore and Bagerhat district have been partici-
pated in this survey based study of medicinal
plants used for the treatment of snake bite and
sexual dysfunction. Of them Kavirajes Mongol
Mondol was aged 42 years and had been prac-
ticing for 15 years whom specially recognized
in his locality for the success in the treatment of
snake bite patient. Kaviraj Rasmohon Mondol
was aged 65 years and had been practicing for
more than 30 years. Kaviraj Rafiqul Islam was
aged 50 years and had been practicing for more
than 25 years as he could remember.
Data collection procedure
The survey was conducted from March 2013
to May 2013. Informed consent was obtained
from all Kavirajes prior to the interviews. The
Kavirajes proved to be very cooperative in not
only providing the names of medicinal plants
that they used for treatment of ailments, but also
in providing detailed information on formula-
tions and dosages. Interviews were conducted
with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire
and the guided field-walk method of Martin
(Martin, 1995) and Maundu (Maundu, 1995).
Briefly, in this method, the Kavirajes took the
interviewers on guided field-walks through are-
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Int. J. Med. Arom. Plants
as from where they usually collected their me-
dicinal plants, pointed out the plants and de-
scribed their uses along with providing the local
names. Finally the photographs of the medicinal
plants were taken. All interviews were conduct-
ed in the Bengali language, the same language
being spoken by both Kavirajes and interview-
ers. These collected data are then analyzed and
converted to the English language by the princi-
ple investigator. In each sample plot the plant
species were identified with the help of regional
floras and field guides. The authenticity of in-
formation on each plant was confirmed through
repeated interviews. The scientific classification
of these local medicinal plants were carried out
by following the secondary sources i.e. medici-
nal plants database of Bangladesh
(http://www.mpbd and Medicinal plants of
Bangladesh, (2nd edition) by Abdul Gaani as
well as from online medicinal plants database.
For taxonomical identification, the collected
plants are yet to be submitted to the Herbarium
of Rajshahi University for taxonomical identifi-
cation by using a Long Arm Stereomicroscope.
Results
A total of 35 medicinal plants are reported in
this study. The plant parts which are used in this
Table 1: Medicinal plants used for the treatment of snake bite in two villages of Jessore and
Bagerhat districts of Bangladesh.
S.No. Botanical Name Family
1. Aristolochia indica L. Aristolochiaceae
2. Mimosa pudica L. Mimosaceae
3. Barringtonia racemosa (L.) Lecythidaceae
Roxb.
4. Sansevieria trifasciata Prain Agavaceae
5. Rauwolfia serpentina (L.) Apocynaceae
Benth. ex Kurz.
6. Calotropis procera (Aiton) Asclepiadaceae
Dryand.
Discussion
Ichemul (Aristolochia indica L.) which is
widely distributed all over the country and has
been used in the treatment of snake bite for a
long period of time. The uses of ichemul as an
antidote of snake bite have scientific evidence
(Meenatchisundaram and Prajish, 2009). Mimo-
sa pudica which is locally known as lozzaboti
has very potential activity against Naja naja and
Biswas et al.
488
Medicinal plants for snake bite and sexual dysfunction in Bangladesh
study are root (25.71%), seed (28.57%), fruits
(5.71%), flowers (11.43%), Rhizomes (5.71%),
decoctions (8.57%), whole plants (5.71%),
leaves (5.71%), wood and ash (2.86%) respec-
tively which is shown in Figure 1. Of them, six
plants are used in the treatment of snake bite in
two district of Khulna division in Bangladesh.
The scientific name, family name, local name,
parts used and mode of administration of these
six plants are described in Table 1. The rest 29
plants are used for the treatment of sexual dys-
function which include erectile dysfunction,
spermatorrhoea, premature ejaculation, libido,
desire, arousal and orgasm which is shown in
Table 2.
Figure 1: Percentage (%) of plant parts used.
Local Name Parts used Mode of Administration
Ichemul Root 1.5'' inch root is smashed and placed under the tongue for
the neutralization of snake venom.
Lozzaboti Root Aqueous extract of the root is applied for ailment.
Moha shomudro Leaf Leaf is smashed between the hands and the decoction is
gach orally taken with other snake remedies plant extracts.
Shaper gach Whole plant, The leaves are boiled in water and bathing the patient
leaf with this water for snakebite, rashes and skin sores.
Sarpogondha Root Root extract is directly feed to neutralize the snake ven-
om.
Akando Root bark Root decoction is taken to support the heart and to aid
vomiting where necessary.
Bangarus caerulus venoms
(Meenatchisundaram et al., 2009; Vejayan et al.,
2007). Rauwolfia serpentina which is locally
recognized as sorpogondha has a very good ac-
tivity against snake venome (Basha and
Sudarsanam, 2012). From this study it is clear
that the plants used in the treatment of snake
bite in two villages of Khulna division of Bang-
ladesh are not merely the myth but also has sci-
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Int. J. Med. Arom. Plants
entific proof for their utilization. Anti-venom
immunotherapy is the only specific treatment
against snake venom envenomation. There are
various side effects of anti-venom such as ana-
phylactic shock, pyrogen reaction and serum
sickness (Meenatchisundaram and Priyagrace,
2009). Most of these symptoms may be due the
action of high concentrations of non-
immunoglobulin proteins present in commer-
cially available hyper immune antivenin (Devi
et al., 2002). So alternative therapy more specif-
ically plant based treatment should launch to
overcome this problem. The rural peoples of
Bangladesh suffering from snake bite are solely
depends on the traditional folk medicine practi-
tioners. So urgent scientific attention should
give to the plants used by kaviraj in rural areas
489
Medicinal plants for snake bite and sexual dysfunction in Bangladesh
of Bangladesh to explore the plants
phytochemically and pharmacologically so that
the specific biological molecules responsible for
anti-venom activity and their mechanism of ac-
tion could be known. Among the plants used in
the treatment of sexual dysfunction, Gokur sci-
entifically known as Tribulus terrestris has ex-
cellent recovery effect on the patients suffering
from erectile dysfunction (Mahaja et al., 2012).
Asparagus racemosus locally known as satabori
sometimes called 100 husbands due to its effect
on female sex and also effective in erectile dys-
function (Thakur et al., 2009). Myrestica
fragrans known as nutmeg is used as sexual ton-
ic by the herbal manufacturer which has the
ability to improve sexual function (Tajuddin et
al., 2005).

Table 2: Medicinal Plants used for the treatment of Sexual Dysfunction in two villages of Jessore
and Bagerhat districts of Bangladesh.
S.No. Botanical Name Family Local name Parts used Uses recommended by Kavirajes
1. Withania somnifera (L.) Solanaceae Ashwagandha Root In Libido and erectile dysfunction. It gives vitality and vigour
Dunal. and helps in building greater endurance.
2. Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. Fabaceace Alukushi Seed It improves erection, duration of coitus, and post-coital satisfac-
tion. It also has fertility promoting and spermatogenic effects in
human males, being able to improve sperm count and motility.
3. Asparagus racemosus Liliaceae Satabori Root It helps men with erection, can help delay ejaculation, improve
Willd seminal viscosity, restore confidence and provide satisfactory
libido.
4. Sida cordifolia L. Malvaceae Bola Root It is used in spermatorrhoea. It is also used to improve sexual
strength.
5. Vitis vinifera L. Vitaceae Drakka Fruit It increases quality and quantity of semen, sperm count and
sperm motility.It also help in erectile dysfunction and premature
ejaculation.
6. Myristica fragrans Houtt. Myristicaceae Joitri Fal Fruit scalp It is a tonic for the reproductive system, while regulating scanty
periods, relieving frigidity and impotence.
7. Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Zingiberaceae Elas Seed It is a well-known remedy for impotence and low sexual re-
Maton sponse.
8. Mesua ferra L. Calophyllaceae Nagkeshor Flower It is used to increase libido.
9. Scirpus kysoorRoxb. Cyperaceae Keshor Flower It is used to increase sexual potency.
10. Tribulus terrestrisL. Zygophllaceae Gokur Seed Specially recommended for erectile dysfunction.
11. Ipomoea paniculata (L.) R.Br. Convolvulaceae Vumikusmando Rhizome It is used to increase sperm count, sexual potency and reduce
night pollution
12. Glycyrrhiza glabra L. Leguminosae Jostimodhu Root Increase sperm, sex potent, reduces night pollution
13. Uraria Lagopoides (Burm. f.) Papilionaceae; Chakuley Root Increase sperm, sex potent, reduces night pollution
DC.
14. Anacyclus pyrethrum (L.) Lag. Asteraceae Akarkora Root Semen inducer, coitus satisfaction, reduces night pollution.
15. Zingiber officinale Roscoe Zingiberaceae Ada Rhizome Semen inducer, coitus satisfaction, reduces night pollution.
16. Crocus sativus L. Iridaceae Kumkum/Jafran Flower Semen inducer, coitus satisfaction, reduces night pollution.
17. Piper longum L. Piperaceae Pipul Seed Semen inducers, coitus satisfaction, reduce night pollution.
18. Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Myrtaceae Labongo Flower Semen inducer, coitus satisfaction, reduces night pollution.
Merr. & L.M. Perry
19. Pterocarpus santalinus L. f. Leguminosae Roktochondon Wood Semen inducer, coitus satisfaction, reduces night pollution.
20. Trigonella foenum-graecum L. Fabaceae Methi Seed Sex enhancer, increase duration of sex.
21. Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Lauraceae Korpur Decoction Semen inducer, coitus satisfaction.
J. Presl
22. Papaver somniferum L. Papaveraceae Afim Decoction It is believed to promote sexual desire
23. Argyreia speciosa (L.f.) Sweet Convolvulaceae Bridhodarok Seed Erectile dysfunction, increase density of semen.
24. Cuminum cyminum L. Apiaceae Gira Seed Erectile dysfunction, increase density of semen.
25. Asteracantha longifolia Nees Acanthaceae Kulakhara Bij Seed Erectile dysfunction, increase density of semen.
26. Crotalaria retusa L. Fabaceae Atoius Root Erectile dysfunction, increase density of semen.
27. Lagerstroemia parviflora Lythraceae Siddibij Seed Erectile dysfunction, increase density of semen.
Roxb.
28. Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Apiaceae Jamani Seed Erectile dysfunction, increase density of semen.
Sprague
29. Corallium rubrum L. Coralliidae Probal Ash Sex enhancer.

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Int. J. Med. Arom. Plants Medicinal plants for snake bite and sexual dysfunction in Bangladesh
Conclusions
Medicinal plants remain an integral part of
the health care system in the rural areas of
Bangladesh especially in the treatment of snake
bite and sexual dysfunction. In some extent, the
present study deals with correlation between
reported uses of some medicinal plants to their
scientific evidence. Thus the present study has
revealed the authenticity of traditional
knowledge and usages of some medicinal plants
for the treatment of snake bite and sexual dys-
function. So the unexplored medicinal plants
used in the treatment of snake bite and sexual
dysfunction deemed urgent scientific experi-
ment in terms of phytochemistry and pharma-
cology to rationalize their utilization.
Acknowledgements: We are thankful to the
Kavirajes who participated in this survey based
research on medicinal plants used for the treat-
ment of snake bite and sexual dysfunction in
rural areas of Bangladesh.
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