Threat Status of Medicinal Plants Used by the Tribal People in Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Southern Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Biodiversity and environmental conservation is important for today’s critically degraded environment, so strategies must be developed using protected area networks such as biosphere reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve is such a valuable repository of floral and faunal biodiversity in the southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India, both in terms of species richness and endemism. A survey was carried out from September 2004 to June 2006 to assess the conservation status of medicinal plants which are used by the tribal people inhabiting the periphery of the reserve. More than 350 species of ethnomedicinal plants were recorded in the study with the association of tribal practitioners. Out of them, the ethnomedicinal plants Aglaia lawii, Arenga wightii, Chloroxylon swietenia, Eugenia singampattiana, Kingiodendron pinnatum, Orophea thomsonii, Polyalthia rufescens, Pterocarpus marsupium and Santalum album are ‘Red Listed’ plants. The majority of the plants of the reserve are rapidly getting threatened, because of the natural calamities and anthropogenic activities inside the forest areas. Thus, the reserve has high conservation value and its biodiversity is vulnerable to different factors so its conservation should receive great attention by involving the local communities and forest representatives.