Ethnomedicinal information of Kurumba tribes of Kundah taluk, Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Ethnobotanical studies have been found to be an instrumental in improving chances of discovering plants with antimicrobial activity useful in phytopharmaceutical industry. Strengthening the wise use and conservation of indigenous knowledge of useful plants may benefit and improve the living standards of poor people. In most of the cases the sources of these remedies are undocumented and the knowledge about them passed orally from generation to generation, hence this knowledge is under the threat of disappearing with current rates of modernisation. Hence the present study has been undertaken to document the traditional uses of plants used by the Kurumba tribes of Kundah taluk of Nilgiri district, Tamil Nadu. A total of 47 plant species of 39 genera belonging to 27 families have been collected and documented. Data is gathered by carrying out by extensive field survey, observations and discussion with traditional healers of this region. The study describes details of botanical identity, family, local name, uses and preparations of medicinal plants of that region.