Ethnomedicinal Plants of Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, North Eastern India

Abstract

Knowledge related to ethnomedicinal uses to treat various ailments provide an important alternative to unavailable or expensive medicine in many rural/marginal communities. Ethnomedicinal studies have received much attention in recent years due to their wide local acceptability and clues for new or lesser known medicinal plants. Large numbers of ethnobotanical studies of protected areas of Assam have been carried out by several workers but there is no study from the selected study site i.e., the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary. For the present study, ethnomedicinal uses of the plants were assessed through informal semi-structured questionnaire involving the local people inhabiting in fringe of the wildlife sanctuary during the year 2016 to 2018. Altogether 111 plant species belonging to Pteridophyte (14 plant species), Gymnosperm (1) and Angiosperm (96) were collected from Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary which were used by fringe community as medicine for treating various ailments. These ethnomedicinal plants were enumerated alphabetically with scientific name, local name, family and part used with their associated medicinal values. If commercially cultivated and properly managed, these could open the corridors for generating income and employment opportunities for the local people and also provide a sustainable land use system for the wastelands and degraded forests.