¹Research Center for Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Traditional Medicine, National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia

Email: nunrahmawati@gmail.com

Papua is one of the islands that has the largest biological wealth in Indonesia, including medicinal plants. This study aimed to identify the utilization of medicinal plants by selected traditional healers who met inclusion criteria to treat fitness disorders in ethnic groups of Papua and West Papua. Data collection was conducted through interviews, observation, and sample collection. This study revealed 43 concoction information and identified the use of 24 plant species distributed in 19 families among 19 healers in 10 ethnic groups in Papua and West Papua. Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf (12.12%) and leaves (57.35%) were determined as the most prominent species and plant parts used. The most used plant family were Myrtaceae, Compositae, and Lamiaceae, each with a percentage of 10.53%. This showed the critical role of medicinal plants and traditional healers in community health. However, conservation efforts need to be initiated immediately since 63.64% of traditional healers only harvested the available plants and made no cultivation efforts.