Abstract

Sacred groves are one of the finest examples of traditional in situ conservation practices. These are patches of natural near-climax pristine vegetation of trees and associate groups of organism, managed as a part of local cultural tradition. In order to explore the medicinal values of the sacred groves an ethno-floristic survey in sacred groves was done to identify medicinal plants used by locals for several diseases. It revealed that Sree Oorpazhachi Kavu consist of a total of 86 vascular plants falling under 75 genera and 38 families. Out of which, the angiosperm dominate with 83 members, while 2 were pteridophytes and Cycas circinalis is the only gymnosperm. Leguminosae emerges as the largest family that contributes about 12 species. The listed plant species are mainly used to cure the common diseases such as fever and headache, cough, cold, many skin diseases, wound, diabetics, diarrhoea, dysentery, cancer, ulcer, brain haemorrhage, urinary infection, bronchitis, rheumatoid, arthritis, asthma, inflammatory swellings, anemia, vomiting, liver diseases, constipation, high blood pressure, obesity, malaria, muscle pain, stomach ache, irregular menstruation, eye diseases, leprosy, toothache, hair loss, eczema, kidney stone etc. Scared groves remain unexplored and no comprehensive studies in ethno-botanical issues, so the conservation of medicinal plants diversity of these groves is therefore most important.