Abstract

Medicine plants have been utilized in traditional medicine since a long ago in human history and are still widely practiced. The knowledge of the healing properties of Ethnomedicinal plants has been transmitted over the centuries within and among human communities. The active compounds that are produced during secondary metabolism of the plant are usually responsible for the biological properties and thereby it is used throughout the globe for several medicinal applications i.e., treatment of infectious diseases. The information about the ethnomedicinal application of plants was collected from indigenous tribes. They often use such plants for healing purposes and to maintain health. The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge of medicinal plants and their use in the tribal region of Jashpur district to document ethnomedicinal plants that have been utilized as traditional medicine, as a flavoring agent, and to preserve food, to avoid illnesses. Around 70% of the worldwide population are still depends on herbal medicines. Many plants have been undergone toxicity screening in the past two decades. The present investigation included around twenty plants that used as traditional medicine for several purposes.

1. Introduction

The Kunkuri is lying between 22 17’ and 23 15’ North latitude and 83 30’ and 84 24’ East longitude. The north-south length of the district is about 150 km while the east-west breadth is about 85 km. It has a total area of 6,205 km^2. It is geographically divided into two parts; the Northern hilly belt called the Upper-ghat and the Southern part called Nich-ghat. The district has dense forest and comes under reserve forest. Personal interactions between tribal physicians and rural medicaments were done to gather the traditional medicinal knowledge and ethnomedicinal uses of the selected plant species. The specimens were identified on the basis of their taxonomical characteristics and the pieces of information recorded in previous literature (Verma et al. ¹, Khanna et al. ²). Some noteworthy contributors were carried out by Gupta et al. ³, Gupta and Mishra ⁴, Jain ⁵, Khan et al. ⁶, Sahu ⁷, and Verma et al. ⁸. The traditional plants used in medicinal purpose are considered as rich resources of bioactive ingredients that could be used in the drug development. This work was deeply concentrated on traditional knowledge of medicinal plants along with their therapeutic values by local inhabitants of the Jashpur district.

2. Materials and Methods

Jashpur district has richest forest resources and substantial coal reserves. A Survey of the literature reveals that the enough work has been done on various aspects of medicinal plants and herbal medicine. Thereby, the personal interactions between tribal physicians and rural medicaments were carried out to gather the traditional medicinal knowledge and ethnomedicinal uses of indigenous plants species. The information collected was subsequently verified by taking them to the local tribes. Local name indigenous plants and the areas, from where it were collected, were noted. Plant species were most often used to treat various types of ailments. Such plants were abundantly found in Kunkuri forest where Scheduled Tribes (ST) is inhabited. Therefore, the extensive survey of the Jashpur district was conducted to enumerate the Ethnomedicinal plants used by the tribal's and nearby villager's people.

A comprehensive survey of the study area was conducted from 2018 to 2020. The study sites were selected as per the recommendations of elders and local authorities. Five study sites were marked out for the survey and a total of twenty ethnomedicinal plants species were explored. The informants were selected based on their ethnomedicinal knowledge and routine practices.

Ethnomedicinal data were collected from 2018 to 2020. The Ethnomedicinal knowledge of indigenous tribes was evaluated.

3. Results

The Jashpur district is very rich in floristic diversity and in line, present research work have recorded twenty medicinal indigenous plants species with their ethnomedicinal uses (Table 1). The ethnomedicinal plants are of different type's viz., tree, shrubs, and herbs. Most of the tribal groups do not have modern health facilities. Thereby, they use the traditional knowledge of locally available ethnomedicinal plants for medicinal purposes. Knowledge of tribal about ethnomedicinal plants is often exclusive to the specific communities and linked to the local plant flora. Twenty ethnomedicinal plant species were recorded by the assessment of tribal's knowledge and their ethnomedicinal usage. According tribes the Tulsi and Bhui-neem is most often used as medicinal purpose by 15.3% followed by Munga and Karanj 2.8% each. The observation of the present study was showed that among twenty plant species, six were belonged from Herbs, six were from shrubs and 8 were from trees. The large number of ethnomedicinal plant species were belonged from Fabaceae, Rutaceae, and Solanaceae families followed by Apocynaceae, Acanthaceae, Liliaceae, Gramineae, Labiatae, Lauraceae, Zingiberaceae, Caricaceae, and Rosaceae families. List of ethnomedicinal plants as per the knowledge of respondents (indigenous peoples) and their frequency along with percentage in Kunkuri of Jashpur District are shown in Table 2. Percentage distribution of Ethnomedicinal plants in Kunkuri of Jashpur District are mentioned in Table 3. The Cynodon dactylon herbs have been recorded with maximum frequency (10). Maximum percentage distribution (32%) of tree was noted (Table 3).

4. Discussion

The present study revealed the Jashpur District is a treasure chest of diversified herbal flora. Previously we also explored edible and Ethnomedicinal Herbs of Masturi Block of Bilaspur District by Sharma and Shivhare^{a 9} and also reveled edible and ethnomedicinal wild plants and products that used for children among tribes of Bilaspur District by Sharma and Shivhare^{b 10}.

In the present course of investigation, the 24% herbaceous plants, 24% shrub plants and 32% trees were found to be dominating plant flora of study site of Jashpur District (Table 3). A large number of people particularly from rural-belt and remote areas are still use ethnomedicinal plant species for primary healthcare purposes. Earlier, Yadaw and Shrivastava ¹¹ documented the properties and uses of medicinal plants inhabited in Jashpur District of Chhattisgarh state and they explored ten medicinal plants.

Recently, Afsana and Biswas ¹² explored Jashpur District to identify ethnomedicinal plant floras. They were identified twenty one plant species which used as herbal healers by tribes for the various diseases. They also quoted that plant part viz., stem, root, bark, fruit, leaves, flower and whole plant are used.

Ethnomedicinal plants can be a good alternative for many diseases and conditions. However, herbal medicines can still have unwanted health effects, especially when used in combination with other drugs. It is also important to tell physician that you are using alternative medicine to prevent drug interaction.

The data interpretation of our research work and previous literature revealed that the different plant species were documented from different authors so that it could be said that the diverse plant flora inhabited in Jashpur District. Hence, this could lead to the further deep assessment of plant flora of Jashpur District.

5. Conclusion

In the present course of investigation divulged the ethnomedicinal plants of Jashpur District. People reside in rural-belt and remote areas are still use ethnomedicinal plant for primary healthcare need. Whole plant and their part viz., stem, root, bark, fruit, leaf and flower are used for such needs. Conclusively, the present study claimed that the diverse groups of plants were inhabited in the Kunkuri study area. As per the previous literatures the different plants were documented from different study sites of Jashpur District, these facts open up the further exploration of unrevealed sites of Jashpur District.

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to the rural people of the Jashpur district for providing very useful information on ethnomedicinal plants and their uses in the treatment of human disease. I would Also like to give vote of thank to supervisor (Dr. Lata Sharma) for her kind guidance, encouragement and support throughout the research work.

References