DEPENDENCY ON PLANTS AS NATURAL RESOURCES FOR A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AMONGST WOMEN IN SUB-DISTRICT DURIAN PIPIT, LEMBAH LENGGONG

This ethnomedicinal plant survey was conducted in sub-district Durian Pipit, Lembah Lenggong, Hulu Perak, Peninsular Malaysia. Focal of this survey is to provide a detailed listing on the diversification of plants as natural resources and the benefits to the local community specifically in health maintenance for women. Local communities of five villages in this sub-district were randomly interviewed and plant species identified by herbal expertise. Targeted subjects are women from the age range of 15 to 80 years old. There are 70 species of plants from 39 families documented in this survey. Results obtained show that parts of the plants used are shoot, flower, leaf, fruit, bark, stem, rhizome and root. The frequency of the part of the plants consumed is higher in leaf, followed by shoot, fruit, rhizome, root, bark, flower and stem. Result obtained connotes that the aerial part of the plants has the higher preferences of efficacy to the local community. The knowledge of the medicinal health remedies is traditionally transmitted from their forefathers and well known amongst women of middle age and above. However, the knowledge is scarcely dominated by the younger generation and less practiced in their daily life nowadays.