Species Diversity and Potential Use of Asteraceae in Tawangmangu, Karanganyar Regency, Central Java

ABSTRACT Asteraceae is a group of plants with high species diversity, with about 25.000 species become members of this family worldwide. This family has many potential uses such as medicinal plants, ornamental plants and weeds. Tawangmangu is an area with unspoiled environmental conditions, where Asteraceae plants are found either wildly or deliberately cultivated in this area. This study aims to determine species diversity of Asteraceae and their potential use. This study was conducted in 5 villages namely Plumbon, Nglebak, Karanglo, Tawangmangu and Kalisoro. The samples were collected with random sampling method, while information on potential use of Asteraceae was gathered from literature studies and interviews with local people. Results of this study are expected to be basic data of species diversity as well as to provide reference of their potential use. A total of 32 species were found on various habitat, include roadside, home yard, riparian of river, in irrigation canal, and on agricultural landscape. The specimens found were all have potential as medicinal plants, with some wild plants were commonly known as weeds, many others were having potential as ornamental plants. Research Article


INTRODUCTION
Asteraceae is a family of Angiosperms with the largest number of species include 1250-1300 genus and 20,000-25,000 species.Asteraceae are distributed worldwide and almost in all habitats (Bhattacharyya & Johri, 1998).There are many potential use of Asteraceae, from medicinal plants, ornamentals plants, and weeds.Some Asteraceae members are widely known as weeds, such as Ageratum conyzoides, Blumeamollis, Ecliptaprostrata, Erigeron bonariensis, and Tridax procumbens.Meanwhile, some Asteraceae species has a distinctive and beautiful flowers, and used as ornamental plants, Some such as Aster, Calendula, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Helianthus and Helichrysum.Potential uses of Asteraceae species as medicinal plant were also found in some species of Asteraceae, as in Artemisia cina to overcome the worms in the intestine (Bhattacharyya &Johri, 1998).Galinsoga parviflora is an important member of its genus.Various extracts and chemical compounds of the plant have shown antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, urease, αglucosidase, hepatoprotective, nematicidal and hypoglycaemic activities.Its phytochemical composition indicates the presence of flavonoids, aromatic esters, caffeic acid derivatives, diterpenoids and phenolic acid derivatives (Ali et al., 2017).
Tawangmangu is an as famous recreational destination area in Central Java.This area has many landscape, include roadside, home yard, riparian of river, irrigation canal, and on agricultural landscape such as rice field area and cultivation area of ornamental plants.Agricultural landscape and environmental conditions are still natural, therefore many plants grow wild and well cultivated.The inventory studies of plants with various potentials is important for monitoring biodiversity especially for taxa with high species diversity like Asteraceae.In a case of Asteraceae in Tawangmangu, an actual data on species diversity need to be updated regularly since the study area is a favorite tourist destination which face the threath habitat loss due to changes in land use.

Materials
The materials used in this study were plant samples collected from 5 villages in Tawangmangu, alcohol 70%, plaster, label, plastic sample, yarn, rope, stationery, herbarium envelope, board, and cardboard.The tools used in this study were garden scissors, oven, sprayer, camera, and identification books.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the identification of plant samples using morphological character, 32 species were recognized from study area.These species were collected from various habitats, include roadside, home yard, riparian of river, in irrigation canal, and on agricultural landscape such as rice field area and cultivation area of ornamental plants.The species of Asteraceae collected in this study is presented in Figure 1, and their potential use was listed in Table 1.
The Asteraceae species found as wild plants were commonly known as weeds, while species intentionally grown for the aesthetic interests of the yard and cut flowers were plants that have interesting organs, such as flowers with attractive color, size and shape.All samples found in this study were known by local people as having potential as medicinal plants.These plants were used for the treatment of various diseases such as diabetes, cold, fever, cough, and diarrhea.Some species were known as crop plants and consumed by local people as complementary to the daily food supplements.Cosmos caudatus, Emilia sonchifolia and Bidens pilosa are usually used by local people as a complement to vegetables and also used by the community as medicinal plants as well.
There are some species commonly used by local people of Tawangmangu as medicinal plants such as Ageratum conyzoides for treating skin disease, Bidens pilosa for cough and cold, Cosmos caudatus for hypertension, Emilia sonchifolia for relieving cold, Tithonia diversifolia as anti-diabetic, Elephantopus scaber for fever and cough, and Sonchus arvensis for fever, hypertension and gout.The information on the potential use of those plants as traditional medicine need to be proved scientifically, and thus open the opportunity for research in the medicinal properties of the plants.These information collected from interview with local people might be used as basis for further study and on the phytochemistry and pharmacognosy of the plants.Short description on potential use of Asteraceae species as medicinal plants found in this study is listed in Table 2.
Based on Table 2, it is clear that Asteraceae species collected in this study has an important role in the health aspect for the local community, but its utilization is not maximal because lack of knowledge.The knowledge of local people about potential use of Asteraceae species as medicinal plants base on heredity.The potential of Asteraceae as a medicinal plants found in Tawangmangu has to be explored based on scientific experience and literature studies, so that the local community of Tawangmangu could optionally use their potential for the benefit.

CONCLUSION
Based on the number of species found, it could be hosted that species diversity of Asteraceae in Tawangmangu is high.Cosmopolitan distribution were supported the diversity of Asteraceae species in Tawangmangu.

Table 1 .
Species diversity of Asteraceae family and their potential use