K. Horiguchi¹⁾ and H. Sakulas²⁾
1) Graduate School of International Health
　 The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
2) The Wau Ecology Institute, Wau, Papua New Guinea
　 Tel:048 625 6848　Fax:048 624 1663 Email:horiguchi@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp

In Papua New Guinea(PNG) there exist a great deal of knowledge regarding the utilization of plants for medicinal purposes. More than 400 species of plants are used for treatment and healing by the local people. Unfortunately, the knowledge of many generations is now disappearing with the influence of modernization and the subsequent loss of traditional culture and local languages. The primary health care system in PNG is not yet sufficiently developed, although basic health centers and aid-posts have been set up in many rural areas. Systemization of the knowledge accumulated through herbal medicine research in PNG would be greatly beneficial. At the Wau Ecology Institute, we have established a computer database of plants used in herbal medicines in PNG.
This database (Medicinal Plant Database) contains information ranging from records of traditional uses to the results of scientific studies of these herbal medicines. It also enables users to cross-reference to herbal medicine specimens held by the Wau Ecology Institute Herbarium. In addition, by accessing this database, users are able to learn about the distribution and taxonomy of herbal plants in PNG. We have assigned a record to each of the local plant names and each associated illness in order to

Introduction
As Papua New Guinea (PNG) modernizes, modern medical techniques are being introduced. While these techniques save the lives of many patients, modern medical care has not fully covered all parts of the country. Western drugs are available in towns, but they are not always accessible in remote villages. Basic health centers and aid-posts have been set up in many rural areas, but the primary health care system is not yet sufficiently developed in this country. Various herbal medicines are therefore still widely used for self-medication and treatment by practitioners using traditional medicines.

A great deal of knowledge exists in PNG regarding the utilization of plants for medicinal purposes. More than 400 species of plant are used for treatment and healing by the local people. Unfortunately, the knowledge of many generations is now disappearing with the influence of modernization and the loss of traditional culture and local languages. It is important to document the plants that are used in traditional medicine, and how they are prepared, before the traditional medical practitioners die and take the knowledge with them. Systemization of the knowledge accumulated through herbal medicine research in PNG would be greatly beneficial.

An Overview of the Medicinal Plant Database (MPDB)
As part of a permanent project at the Wau Ecology Institute, we have been collecting medicinal plants in order to supplement studies carried out by other researchers. There are currently more than a hundred specimens in the medicinal plant collection of the Wau Ecology Institute. At the same time we have developed a Herbarium Database (HDB) which manages information from the more than two thousand specimens in the Herbarium collection. The Medicinal Plant Database was constructed so that it could be linked with the Herbarium Database. Using the HDB and by consulting literature sources on medicinal plants of PNG (Hill, 1985), we generated a list of medicinal plants. The HDB is made from the Herbal Data File (HDF). The MPDB consists of three data files :

The MPDF and the HDF are corresponding and able to exchange information with each other. The MUDF and the MIDF are formed from the MPDF. We used dBASE II MS-DOS Ver. 2 and made a hundred programs to arrange those files into a database system. This means that one command can either enter or retrieve information from all three data files.

The Structure of the Medicinal Plant Database (MPD)
The data fields of each data file are shown in Table 1. The following is a description of the data items as they occur in MPDF, MUDF and MIDF:

the Medicinal Plant Data File (MPDF) The DATE records the date of input of the entry. The HERBARIUM NO. corresponds to the number of the specimen in the Wau Ecology Institute Herbarium. The MEDICINAL PLANT NO. is assigned to each medicinal plant. It consists of six alphanumeric characters, with the first character always being the letter M. The rest of the number is assigned for reference purposes. The FAMILY is a family of the botanical name. The GENUS is a genus of the botanical name. The SPECIES is a species of the botanical name. the Medical Usage Data File (MUDF) The DATE and MEDICINAL PLANT NO. are as described previously. The LOCAL NAME is the vernacular name of the plant. The PROVINCE is the wide area in which the medicinal plant is used. It can help to make a list of medicinal plants by province. The VILLAGE is the small area in which the medicinal plant and its local name are used. The ILLNESS category can be substituted with a medicinal property. The PART OF USED is the part of the medicinal plant used. The HOW TO MAKE is the way in which the medicinal plant is prepared. The HOW TO USE is the way in which the treatment is administered. The COMMENT is the short description of the medicinal plant and its usage. The REF-NOTE and REF-LITERATURE fields consist of five alphanumeric characters, with the first character always being the letter N and L respectively, and supplementary information on medical usage from the subdata file of the MUDF.

Information Sources
The medicinal plants currently listed in the MPDB are those that already have specimens in the Wau Ecology Institute HDB. Other sources of information include the literature in REFERENCE.

How to Use the MPDB
The MPDB can be accessed in several ways:

(1) A vague or partial botanical name or Herbarium No. can be used to access the MPDF. (2) A vague or partial local name, province, village or illness can be used to access the MUDF. (3) A medicinal active ingredient: alkaloid, flavonoid, saponin, steroid, tannin, terpenoid or triterpenoid, can all be used to access the MIDF.

All these access paths provide corresponding lists of Medicinal Plant Nos. Picking up the Medicinal Plant No. on the list, users can obtain various information about the medicinal plant from any of the three data files.

Results and Discussion
Table 2 shows a sample output of the MPDB using the print-out command. The three medicinal data files correspond with (1), (2) and (3) in Table 2 respectively, providing information of interest to various users.

Accessing the HDB using the HERBARIUM No., data fields (Table 2.(1)) can be used to learn more about the distribution and taxonomy of medicinal plants. Even a partial botanical name can be used to locate a record. For example, the plant Alstonia scholaria is reported to be widely used to treat several kinds of illness in PNG (Holdsworth 1977, 1989). We assigned a record for each of the local names and each illness so as to segregate complicated information (Table 2.(2)). We can organize lists of medicinal plants used in communities using the PROVINCE and VILLAGE data fields. Such lists

The scientific information (Table 2.(3)) not only encourages the study of herbal medicines, but also provides support for the continued utilization of natural resources and the preservation of traditional knowledge in PNG.

Table 1. The data fields used in the data files

HERBARIU M DATA FILE	MEDICINAL PLANT DATE FILE	MEDICINAL USAGE DATA FILE	MEDICINAL INGREDIENT DATA FILE
HERBARIUM NO. FAMILY GENUS SPECIES COLLECTOR COLLECTIN G PLACE	DATE HERBARIUM NO.* MEDICINAL PLANT NO. FAMILY* GENUS* SPECIES*	DATE MEDICINAL PLANT NO.* LOCAL NAME PROVINCE VILLAGE ILLNESS PART OF USE HOW TO MAKE HOW TO USE COMMENT** REF-NOTE** REF-LITERATURE	DATE MEDICINAL PLANT NO.* ACTIVE INGREDIENT COMMENT** REFERENCE

* Data fields can be transferred fromother data files 　** Data fields are optional

(2)USAGE OF MEDICINAL PLANT
Date	30-Jul-89
Medicinal Plant No.	M00064
Local name(tok ples)	herina
Province	Central
Village(ples)	Hisui
Illness	fever
Part of used	leaves
How to make	infuse
How to use	drink the infusion
Comment
Ref-notes	N0005
Ref-Literature	L0001

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr. Larry Orsak, Scientific Methods, Inc., and Greg Ruhnke, Stanford University, School of Medicine, for providing comments on drafts of this paper and C. Victor, I. Abraham and F. Asch for technical assistance and the Japan International Cooperation Agency for financial support.

References

[1]	Hill,L.(1985). Preliminary Bibliography on the Traditional Medicinal Plants of Papua New Guinea. Traditional Medicine and Primary Health Care in Papua New Guinea (Ed. by Jilek, W. G.). pp.135-144. University of Papua New Guinea Press, Papua New Guinea.
[2]	Holdsworth,D.K.(1977). Medicinal Plants of Papua New Guinea, the South Pacific Commission, 9.
[3]	Holdsworth,D.K. et al.(1989) Traditional Medicine of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Part III Konos, Central New Ireland. International Journal of Crude Drug Research 27, No.1, 55-61.