Ethnobotanical uses of medicinal and aromatic plants in Chopal Forest Division of Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

The present study was carried out to document the ethnobotanical uses of medicinal and aromatic plants in Chopal forest division of Himachal Pradesh. The information was collected from local communities including traditional healers of villages from all seven forest ranges of Chopal forest division through semi-structured interview during July, 2015 to September, 2017. A total of 120 ethnobotanical plant species of 107 genera belonging to sixty one families were recorded from the study area. Out of these, 115 species were angiosperms, three gymnosperms, one pteridophyte and one fungus species. Rosaceae was recorded as the most dominant family with nine plant species followed by Lamiaceae, Leguminosae Amaranthaceae and Compositae. Among the different growth forms, herbs shared maximum growth form followed by shrubs, trees, climbers and pteridophyte. The recorded medicinal and aromatic plant species were used for treating various common ailments. Hedychium spicatum was reported as most used species followed by Artemisia vulgaris, Angelica glauca, Lactuca macrorhiza, Delphinium vestitum, Viola pilosa, Berberis lycium, etc. Present findings indicate that the people of Chopal forest division possess appreciable knowledge about the traditional use of medicinal and aromatic plant species. However, diminishing trend in knowledge about the medicinal plants was recorded. Only sixty percent people had knowledge about medicinal and aromatic plant species use. Hence, documentation of the traditional knowledge has tremendous importance which will help its preservation and also provide opportunity for using these plants in future improvement programme.