Assessment of Psammophytic Medicinal Plant Diversity Used among the Rural Communities in Coastal East Midnapore, West Bengal, India

Abstract

ABSTRACT The diversity and conservation status of medicinal plants were studied in the coastal East Midnapore district under West Bengal in India. Information on the medicinal plants was obtained from semistructured questionnaires, interviews, and field excursions involving herbalists and taxonomists. A semistructured questionnaire was used to interview a total of 120 informants. By using different quantitative indices, results were analyzed for fidelity level (FL), informant consensus factor (ICF), and use value (UV). In this study, 162 plant species were reported as being used for medicinal purposes. Fabaceae was a dominant family, and the most frequently used parts were leaves (20.35%); the most used herbal medicinal preparation method was a decoction (38.27%) and the highest ICF was noted for digestive disorders (27.24%). The FL varied from 17.86% to 100%. Species having the highest UV was Ricinus communis (0.01595). The findings show that medicinal plants were the main sources of medicines for primary health care.