Ethnobotany of spice plants in Tanjung Botung Village, Barumun District, Padang Lawas Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the largest spice-producing countries in the world. Forests in Indonesia have biodiversity that holds the potential for spices which must always be protected. Community gardens in Tanjung Botung Village in various land-use patterns such as agroforestry gardens, people’s yards are a place to grow various types of spices, both grown wild and deliberat1ely cultivated. This study aims to determine the species of spices and their uses in Tanjung Botung Village, Barumun District, North Sumatra. The research method was carried out by in-depth interviews with 20 respondents of local communities. The respondents were chosen by snowball sampling method. There are 33 species of spice plants used by the community, consisting of 13 (39.4%) tree species and 20 (60.6%) herbs. Part of plant used, namely 18 species of fruit (54%), six species of leaves (18%), three species of rhizome (9%), two species of bark (6%), two species of tubers (6%) and stem of a species (1%).