Traditional Knowledge of Medicinal Plants among the Thangal–Naga Ethnic Group of Manipur, India

Abstract

With a population of 4475 individuals, the Thangal– Naga of Manipur is one of the vulnerable schedule tribe groups in India. During the study, oral traditional knowledge for the treatment of ailments using wild medicinal plants by the ethnic group was documented. Forty-one ethnomedicinal plants from 40 genera and 28 families were reported during the semistructured interviews of 70 locals. In total, 29 different ailments were treated using medicinal plants. Further, phytochemical analysis of 11 common medicinal plants revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, phenols, steroids, anthraquinones, coumarins, glycosides and terpenoids.