Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 6(4), October 2007, pp. 579-582 Medicinal plants used by Malasar tribes of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu P Pandi Kumar, M Ayyanar & S Ignacimuthu* Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai 600 034, Tamil Nadu E-mail:
[email protected] Received 2 December 2005; revised 5 July 2006 India is known for its rich flora and fauna, diverse climatic zones and wealth of living ethnomedicinal tradition. The paper enumerates medicinal plants used by Malasar tribes of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu. The traditional uses of 51 medicinal plants belonging to 34 families are presented with botanical name, family, local name, parts used, method of preparation and ethnomedicinal uses. Keywords: Traditional knowledge, Ethnomedicine, Malasar tribes, Tamil Nadu IPC Int. Cl.8: A61K36/00, A61P1/02, A61P1/10, A61P1/12, A61P1/16, A61P9/14, A61P11/00, A61P11/10, A61P19/00, A61P19/02, A61P25/00, A61P29/00, A61P31/02, A61P35/00, A61P39/02 India is one of the twelve mega-biodiversity countries tribal people about medicinal plants provides an ideal of the World having rich vegetation with a wide condition to carry out the ethnobotanical studies. variety of plants having medicinal value. Human Poondi has typically tropical climate and is situated at civilization has evolved as a result of interaction of an elevation of 300 MSL with an annual rainfall of people with their environment, especially with plants. about 150 mm. The forest covers dry deciduous From the very earliest days of civilization, mankind forests, thorn forests and scrub vegetation. The study has turned to plants for healing, a tradition that has area is 26 km away from Coimbatore.