Abstract
A study on medicinal plant utilization in area revealed that the communities commonly used for maintaining their primary healthcare. The ethnomedicinal and ethnoveterinary documentation in the Kurangani forest of Tamil Nadu state was made for a period of two month from January to March 2021. The forest is a tropical evergreen with high species richness where the temperature and rainfall data indicates that it is suitable vegetation for the inhabitation of great number of species. In order to sort out health disorders or diseases based on the plants prescribed there are 8 ailment categories were classified. In present study, totally 50 plant species for ethnomedicine and 25 species of ethnoveterinary were encountered through the knowledge of indigenous tribal communities, Paliyar of Kurangani forest. Most of the treatments in both ethnobotany and ethnoveterinary practices with the use of herbs particularly leaf parts were perceived. For medicinal purposes, the family Malvaceae contributed majorly 5 species followed by Solanaceae with 4 species, Euphorbiaceae and Zingiberaceae contributed 3 species and afterward other family species solely mentioned for different ailments. In ethnoveterinary medicine documentation, 3 species belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae which is predominant, subsequently 2 species belong to Zingiberaceae. The mode of preparation and dosage, mode of application, duration of the treatment for each ailments have documented. This study highlights the traditional medicinal knowledge of the Kurangani tribal people, providing basic data for further research and protection of minority medicine. Thus, conservation of medicinal plants by local communities is emphasized in present study to avoid further loss. Moreover, phytochemical and pharmacological investigation is recommended with due consideration to frequently used medicinal plants.
Highlights
India is one of the twelve mega-biodiversity countries in the world having rich vegetation with wide varieties of plants [1]
The results of this study shows that a large number of medicinal plants are traditionally used by the tribal community of Kurangani hill for the treatment of various ethnoveterinary diseases or health disorders of animals
This study highlights the need for more comprehensive documentation of medicinal plants used for treating different ailments and it is providing basic data for further research and protection of minority medicine
Summary
India is one of the twelve mega-biodiversity countries in the world having rich vegetation with wide varieties of plants [1]. In India, medicinal plants are widely used by all sections of the population with an estimated 7,500 species of plants used by several ethnic communities and it is known that India has the largest tribal population in the world after Africa. Tribal communities in India still collect and preserve locally available wild and cultivated plant species and practice herbal medicine to treat a variety of diseases and disorder [2]. It is estimated that tribal people of Tamil Nadu accounts 1.05% of the total state population and 0.77% of the total tribal population of the country. World Health Organization estimated that nearly 80% of the earth’s inhabitants still rely on ethnomedicine, as the mid-1990s, upwards of 80-90% of humans toughly to rely on ethno-veterinary care for livestock [4]
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