Abstract
In earlier days, children used to play in outdoors with plant parts and their products for fun making and games. However with modernity and advancement in science and technology, this indigenous knowledge is vanishing day by day. There is no scientific documentation of plants being used for fun and games by children. The present study carried out in different tribal and non-tribal village schools of Koraput and Khordha districts of Odisha, India in a systematic manner documented 90 plant species distributed in 85 genera spread over 44 families. The plant species recorded include 35 trees, 21 shrubs, 24 herbs and 10 climbers/creepers. The plants widely used as play material include Artocarpus heterophyllus, Dendrocalamus strictus, Cocos nucifera, Calotropis gigantea, Ficus benghalensis, Mangifera indica, Musa paradisiaca, Phoenix sylvestris, Tamarindus indica, etc. The different plant parts such as leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds etc. and their mode of use by the participating respondents have been recorded and discussed. It was noted that the most and frequently used plant parts as the source of play were fruits followed by leaves, flowers, and seeds. The economic importance of plants, besides their implications in teaching and learning along with their sustainable utilization and conservation is discussed. Keywords: Plant biodiversity, conservation, fun, modernity, advancement, technology, utilization.
Highlights
The environment is the sum total of all components and factors that influence the life of an organism including human being from birth to death
One of the major concerns of the environment today is the loss of biodiversity that includes varieties of plants, animals, and microorganisms that exist on the surface of planet Earth (Baliga, 1996; Satapathy, 2007). This rich biodiversity of life has ever been instrumental in providing humanity with food security (Swaminathan and Bhavani, 2013), shelter, health care, and to certain extent, industrial goods and livelihood leading to improvement in people’s standard of living in the modern world
Khordha district stands (19°40’ to 20°25’ N, 84°40’ to 86°5’ E) in the eastern part of the state and mostly influenced by modernity (Figure1).Twenty elementary and secondary schools were selected from each district for the present study
Summary
The environment is the sum total of all components and factors that influence the life of an organism including human being from birth to death. 7) Which plant part do you use for play or fun? 9) Any economic use of the plant you know besides as play material?
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