Survey of Some Ethno Medicine Used by Tribal Population in Nilgiri Hills, South India

Abstract

India has richest genetic resources of medicinal plants and indigenous systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani. However, there is a need to understand ethnomedicinal plants used by tribal populations. Hence, a survey of some ethno medicinal plants used by tribal population in Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India was conducted. A total of forty-nine plant species belonging to twenty-nine families are documented in this survey. In this report, six plants from Astraceae, four plants from Lamiaceae, three from Solanaceae and Rutaceae, two each from Scrophulariaceae, Apiaceae, Myrtaceae, Liliaceae and Poaceae are recorded. Common names of the medicinal plants, their parts employed as medicine and their ethnomedicinal uses were documented. The tribal medicines have shown good results and healing properties in treating various symptoms and diseases. Hence, conservation of these medicinal plants is of utmost importance and utilizes the traditional ethnomedicinal heritage of tribals to mankind.