Study of forest base ethno-medicinal plants among the for-est fringe villages of Balpakram National Park, Meghalaya

Abstract

Wild medicinal plants play a significant role in the healthcare practices of the Garo tribes inhabiting fringe forest of Balpakram national park. A study was conducted to document these Wild medicinal plants and to explore potential species for phytochemical and pharmacological studies. Fieldwork was conducted over a period of two years in Balpakram national park, utilizing the “transect walk ”method of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). The data was analyzed using the following techniques: frequency of citation and informant consensus factor (Fic). This research documented 60 species of medicinal plants belonging to 43 families which were used in the treatment of 32 ailments of humans. The ailments are categorized into 14 categories (symptoms/similarities, etc). The Fic values indicate that there was a high degree of consensus among informants on how to treat injuries, respiratory ailments, circulatory system ailments, digestive disorders, colds and fevers. The most useful medicinal species, ranked according to their perceived Fic were: Averrhoa carambola, Antidesma bunius, Osbeckia stellata, Curcuma domestica, Acorus calamus, Terminalia chebula, Cinnamomum tamala. In remedy preparations, the leaves were the most frequently used plant part (33 instances) and most of the preparations were in the form of extraction or juice. Herbs were the most frequently used source of medicine (48%), followed by trees (35%) and shrubs (17%).