Abstract
Vietnam is a tropical Southeast Asian country possessing a broad range of natural resources and a long history of a traditional medicine system. In this investigation report, we highlight the practice of traditional medicine and the use of herbal drugs to treat common diseases and report on interviews with local traditional medicine practitioners at Phu Quoc Island and Ninh Thuan Province in Vietnam. The results indicated that the Phu Quoc islanders possess abundant indigenous knowledge and experiences regarding the use of plants as herbal medicine along with a widespread myth that says the wild plants on the mountain in Phu Quoc Island are more therapeutically active than the plants of the garden. In Ninh Thuan Province, the Cham community possesses their own specific traditional medicine system and some medicinal plants used for the treatment of common diseases only exist with the Cham name. Therefore, taxonomical study, evaluation, standardization and regulation of medicinal plants must be enhanced in these places, in order to promote the scientific development of traditional medicine.
