Ethnomedicinal Plants Used in the Health Care System: Survey of the Mid Hills of Solan District, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Manoj Kumar,Anshu Sharma,Vineet Kumar Maurya,Bharat Bhushan,Mohamed Mekhemar,Sangram Dhumal,Suman Natta,Sushil Changan,Mamta Thakur,Suraj Prakash,Sonia Rathore,Surinder Singh,Ashok Pundir,Mahesh Kumar Samota,Sunil Puri,Ryszard Amarowicz,Anilkumar G Bhoite,Marisennayya Senapathy,Himani Devi,Mukesh Kumar Berwal ,Asha Asha ,T Ilakiya ,Radha ,Rahul Damale ,Sneh Punia

doi:10.3390/plants10091842

Abstract

The study was performed in the mid hills of the Dharampur region in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, India. At the study site, a total of 115 medicinal plants were documented (38 trees, 37 herbs, 34 shrubs, 5 climbers, 1 fern, and 1 grass). In the study region, extensive field surveys were performed between March 2020 and August 2021. Indigenous knowledge of wild medicinal plants was collected through questionnaires, discussions, and personal interviews during field trips. Plants with their correct nomenclature were arranged by botanical name, family, common name, habitat, parts used, routes used, and diseases treated. In the present study, the predominant family was Rosaceae, which represented the maximum number of plant species, 10, followed by Asteraceae and Lamiaceae, which represented 8 plant species. The rural inhabitants of the Dharampur region in the Solan district have been using local plants for primary health care and the treatment of various diseases for a longer time. However, information related to the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants was not documented. The rural inhabitants of the Dharampur region reported that the new generation is not so interested in traditional knowledge of medicinal plants due to modernization in society, so there is an urgent need to document ethnomedicinal plants before such knowledge becomes inaccessible and extinct.

Highlights

Across the world, rural people rely on traditional local knowledge of medicinal plants for primary health care [1,2]
The primary goal of this research was to document the ethnomedicinal plants utilized by rural people in the Solan district and to document indigenous knowledge about traditional plant uses through ethnobotanical research
The rural inhabitants of the study site reported that plant species Berberis aristata, Zanthoxylum armatum, Viola canescens, Rhododendron arboreum, Datura innoxia, Ocimum sanctum, Colebrookea oppositifolia, Mentha arvensis, Justicia adhatoda, Cynodon dactylon, Ficus auriculata, Cannabis sativa, Oxalis corniculata and Verbascum thapsus are highly effective in treating different types of human diseases

Summary

Introduction

Rural people rely on traditional local knowledge of medicinal plants for primary health care [1,2]. For rural communities in developing countries, the use of plant species as traditional medicines provides a good alternative to health care systems [7,8]. It has been reported that 80% of the population in developing countries relies on traditional medicines for primary health care. These medicinal plants are frequently reported as safe, cheap and available from the surroundings [9,10]. In India, approximately 7500 plant species have been reported for medicinal use in indigenous health practices and modern systems of medicines [11,12]. In periods of food scarcity, most rural communities depend on natural resources such as wild edible plants to meet their food requirements [14]

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Conclusion