Food and Medicinal Ethnobotany of Communities around Gunung Rinjani National Park (Case Study on Sasak Tribe in Jeruk Manis Village, Sikur Sub-District, East Lombok District, West Nusa Tenggara)

Abstract

Traditional utilization of plants to meet the needs of food and medicine in communities around the forests has been going since a long time ago. However, nowadays the knowledge of traditional utilization of plants has not been widely documented. Documentation of plants utilization as food and medicine can be done with the study of ethnobotany. The objective of this research is to identify the diversity of food and medicinal plant species as well as the traditional wisdom of the community related to conservation efforts of food and medicinal plants. This study was conducted in Jeruk Manis Village from March to April 2012. The data collected were the diversity of plant species for food and medicine, the traditional wisdom of Sasak Tribe community and other supporting informations. The method used in the data collection were interview, field observation, herbarium creation and literature review.

Pemanfaatan tumbuhan secara tradisional untuk memenuhi kebutuhan pangan dan obat-obatan oleh masyarakat sekitar hutan sudah berlangsung sejak lama. Hanya saja, saat ini pengetahuan mengenai pemanfaatan tumbuhan secara tradisional tersebut belum banyak terdokumentasikan. Pendokumentasian pemanfaatan tumbuhan sebagai bahan pangan dan obat dapat dilakukan dengan kajian etnobotani. Tujuan penelitian yang dilakukan adalah untuk mengidentifikasi keanekaragaman spesies tumbuhan pangan dan obat serta kearifan tradisional masyarakat Suku Sasak terkait dengan upaya konservasi tumbuhan pangan dan obat. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan di Desa Jeruk Manis pada bulan Maret-April 2012. Data yang dikumpulkan terutama keanekaragaman spesies tumbuhan pangan dan obat, kearifan tradisional masyarakat Suku Sasak serta data penunjang lainnya. Metode pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah wawancara, survei lapangan, pembuatan herbarium dan kajian pustaka.