Commonly used medicinal plants in N. Mualcheng, Mizoram, India

Lalbiakngheti Tlau,Lucy Lalawmpuii

doi:10.33493/scivis.20.04.04

Abstract

Medicinal plants are the source of therapeutic agents in traditional medicines. The present study investigated Mizo traditional medicinal plants commonly used and available at N. Mualcheng, a village in Mizoram, India. The most important plants in terms of usage and availability as 10 species belonging to 9 families, of which Asteraceae contributes two species (such as Blumea lanceolaria, Acmella sp.), while Fabaceae, Acanthaceae, Costaceae, Orobanchaceae, Proteaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Smilacaceae and Plantaginaceae contribute one species each such as Mimosa pudica, Thunbergia grandiflora, Chamaecostus cuspidatus, Aeginetia indica, Helicia robusta, Elaeagnus caudata, Smilax perfoliata and Plantago asiatica respectively. An important feature of these medicinal plants is that some of them are used for complex diseases including kidney problem, gastric ulcer and diabetes mellitus.

Highlights

Mizoram is known to have one of the highest species richness in medicinal plants and the uses and applications are varied from one place to another.[1]
Before the times when modern pharmaceuticals and synthetic drugs were even introduced in Mizoram, plants had been used as medicinal remedies in search of a cure for diseases from the far past by our ancestors
Rai and Lalramnghinglova reported from Mizoram in 2010 that there were 159 ethnomedicinal plants belonging to 134 genera and 56 families from different sites such as tropical forest, home gardens, roadsides and Mizoram University campus which significantly shows the importance and popularity of folk medicine in Mizo society.[3]

Summary

Introduction

Mizoram is known to have one of the highest species richness in medicinal plants and the uses and applications are varied from one place to another.[1]. Rai and Lalramnghinglova reported from Mizoram in 2010 that there were 159 ethnomedicinal plants belonging to 134 genera and 56 families from different sites such as tropical forest, home gardens, roadsides and Mizoram University campus which significantly shows the importance and popularity of folk medicine in Mizo society.[3] site-specific covering individual village or district has not been documented. This is important as geographical variants and differences in Volume 20 | Issue 4 | October-December 2020 application of some plants are evident across the state. In addition to that, when people get injured, the most effective first aid is derived from plants, which are just near at hand such as Thunbergia grandiflora and other plants like Mikania micrantha, Eupatorium odoratum, etc., which were not included in this study

Methodology

Results and Discussion

Conclusion