An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants With Hepatoprotective Effects in the Serangpanjang Region, Subang, West Java, Indonesia

Liver is a vital organ that plays a major role in the elimination of xenobiotics from the body. Diseases that affect the liver become major health problems and challenge health-care professionals as well as the pharmaceutical industry. Since the conventional treatment of liver diseases is associated with a wide range of adverse effects, botanical agents are commonly used. This research aims to document and preserve the use of ethnomedicinal to treat liver disease by communities in the Serangpanjang Region, Subang, West Java, Indonesia. Fieldwork was carried out from November to December 2025 using direct interviews, questionnaires, and discussions. Plant species are identified based on standard taxonomic methods, flower morphological characteristics, and where possible, using samples for comparison, as well as consultation with experts and the literature. The plant types obtained were grouped into families according to the Cronquist classification system. Plant names were checked against the Plant List (www.plantlist.org) and the International Plant Name Index (www.ipni.org). This research reports that 30 plant species are commonly used by people in the Serangpanjang Region to treat liver disease. Among the various plant parts used, leaves (50.0%) are most frequently used in making medicines, followed by rhizomes (13.3%), fruit (13.3%), flowers, stem, and seed (respectively 6.7%) and rind (3.3%). Meanwhile, the most frequently used preparation methods were decoction (76.7%) and infusion (23.3%). The results of this research confirm that people in the Serang panjang Region still rely heavily on medicinal plants for their health care system, especially for the treatment of liver disease with the most frequently used parts of the leaves and their use in decoctions and infusions.