Ethnobotany of some polypetalous plants from the Kashmir Himalaya

Abstract

Importance of medicinal plants in traditional healthcare practices which provide clues to new areas of research and in biodiversity conservation is now well known. However, information on the uses of plants for medicine is lacking from many hilly and tribal areas of Kashmir Himalaya. The present study has been carried out from different hilly areas of Kashmir Himalaya, to look for the diversity of plant resources that are used by local people for curing various ailments. The information has been collected for 38 polypetalous species, of whichmedicinal uses of 5 species are reported for the first time. It has also been found that most of the species are used for the general health problems and wound healings besides for the treatment of skin, gastric, cough, etc. diseases. The most preferred plant parts for the preparation of such medicines are roots (34.21%) followed by leaves (18.42%), flowers (10.52%) and whole plant (10.52%) while seeds (7.89%) remain the least.   Key words: Ethnobotany, medicinal plants, Kashmir Himalaya, polypetalous.