Traditional and Ethnobotanical Uses of Plants in Bhagirathi Valley (Western Himalaya)
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Indian Journal of Traditional Kn ow ledge Vol. 1( 1). October 2002, pp. 7-19 Traditional and ethnobotanical uses of plants in Bhagirathi Valley (Western Himalaya) Sanjay Kr UniyaJ* ; Anjali Awasthi and Gopal S Rawat Wildlife In stitute of India, P.O. Box No. IS, Chandrabani , Dehra Dun-24S001 (Uttaranchal), India E-mail: suni [email protected] Received 22 January 2002 The local inhabitants in th e upper catchment of ri ver Bhagirathi, Garhwal Himalaya have inherited a rich trad iti onal knowledge on the use of wild plants. This kn ow ledge appears to be erod in g gradually owing to rapid changes in socio-economics and lifestyl e. The traditional knowledge of local people on the use of wild plants in their soc ial, cultural and economic milieu has been studied and documented. Local people had informati on on uses of 2 11 wild plant species, which is discussed here. Keywords: Bhagirathi Valley. Himalaya. Traditional Kn owledge, Useful plants The use of numerous plant species for culturally and geographically diverse food, medicine, fuel, timber and various landscape, the Himalayan region exhibits other purposes by mankind has been well a rich array of ethnobotanical practices. J 2 documented in ancient Hindu literature - . But traditional knowledge of these plants Traditional knowledge on medicine since has not been documented from several the time of Great sage Charak has led to areas of this region. This paper deals with the discovery of many important drugs of the traditional uses of wild plants by the modern era (e.g. Reserpine from local people in Bhagirathi valley, where Rauvolfia serpentillo, Quinine from recent developmental projects and mass Cinchona pubescen.s). Besides food and tourism have strongly influenced the medicine, human beings also use various lifestyle leading to the detriment of other natural resources on day-to-day traditional knowledge of local people. basis_ Conservation of such resources was a part of their culture. However, with Methods of survey increasing modernization, rich cultural The study was conducted 111 the heritage and traditional knowledge is fast Bhagirathi valley located in Western 3 4 declining in many parts of the world - as Himalaya and was based on interviews, 6 7 also in the HimalayaS. Owing to a informal discussions and observations • . The inhabitants of the valley belong to *Correspondent author Indo-Aryan and Indo-Mongoloid races 8 INDIA J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE. VOL I . No. I. OCTOBER 2() () ~ and ha \'c agro-pastoral li fes ty le preferred as fuelwooc at lower alti tudes dcpencl:l1ll on the surrounding forests '. A «2000111) while at higher alti tudes total of 329 h O ll ~e holds distributed in six (>2200m ) Qllerclls .Ielliecarpij'otiu vi lIages \Vere surveyed . III forrn ~lli()n was (kharsu). Hew/a IIf itis (bhoj ) and l't)lIcckcl on th e spec ies, plan t parts used I? hodurle nd ron co III pm 11 t! {/ f 111 11 (s i III ru ) and their uses. The uses of plant <; were were preferred due to th eir easy divided into R categories vi z. , ruc lwood, avai lability in th e surrou nding fore sts. fockler. fibre. ed ible, timber. oilseeds, The shrubs preferred for fu el wood at mcdicinal and miscellaneous. The las t lower altitudes were spec ies of Berberis ca tegory includes uses suc h as and CO foneasfer whi le at hi gher altitudes agricult ural impleme nts, decorati ve items, species of Vi/ml'l/II//l were used more. Dry dyes. household item s, na rcotics and culms of two hill ba mboos ,VI Z. sacred plants. The in forma t ion th us !\mndinaria fa/cala (rin gal) and co llected has been co llated and discussed T!wl//I/Uca/al//lIs spa/hi/1oms (tham ) were in li ght of changing lifesty le. hi ghly preferred for igniting fire at lower and higher altitudes, res pectively. The Results bamboo culms w r..; re es pec ially dried and It was found th at th e loca l peop le had stored for rai ny .tIld wi nt er seaso ns. kno\V ledge rega rding uses of 2 11 plan t SYlllp/OCOS chinew,i,\ (lodh), I?/II/S species Cr ab le I ). A lthough maxi mum pllnjabensis (a khweria), /\ escII/IIs indica in format ion was avai lable on th e (pangar) and Jug /ails reg ia (akhrot) we re medicina l uses of wi ld plants. th ey are also used as fu el wood but were less se ldom in practice now. The maj or uses preferred. T he preference for certain are descri bed below: specIes as fuel wood revea ls th e * l) Fuelwood: More than 90% of th e ex peri ence- bas ed knowledge of loca l population depends on fu el wood. The peopl e. reasons for this range from poor socio 2) Fodder: The local peopl e rear cows, econom ic statu s of loca l peo ple to harsh buffaloes, sheep and goat largely for climat ic conditions. The cool and supporting ag ri culture. They used forty temperat e climate requires round the se ven plant species as fodder for their clock burning of fuel wood to kee p th eir cattle. Amongst th e tree species oaks hou ses warm. The most preferred were highly preferred becau se of their fuelwood species were of oaks (Quercus high nutrient content and palatabilit/ and spp). The reason for thi s could be th e were exploited heavi ly. However, th e good hea ti ng and coal formi ng property newly emerging leaves of oaks were not 9 of oaks . Qllercus /ellco/richop/lOra fed. According to the local peopl e very (banj), A/nilS nepa/ensis (utis), young leaves of oaks harm the milk Rhododendron arborelllli (burans) and yielding cattle and also are poisonous. Lifsea chinensis (yeru) were more This again, showed the tradi tional knowledge base of the local people. Other * Locnl nam es nrc givcn in paranthes is preferred fodder spec ies were Carpinus UN IYAL 1'1 al: TRADITIONAL AND ETHNOBOTANICAL USES OF PLANTS 9 Table I- Ethn obotani ca luses of different pl ant spec ies from Bhagirathi Valley Spec ic: s Medicine Edible Constructi on Fodder Fu el Oil Fiber Miscellaneous Abies pilltiruw + + Acer IIClllllilla/1II11 + Acer cllesilllll + + Acer IlIel'igllllllll + Acer obioilglllll + Achvrlllllhe.l' USpl'l"I1 + IICO llillll 1l F tfcolleri + AC(lIIilllll1 hel erophr l/lIIl1 + AC(lIIil llll1 l'iolacelllll + Jlcor lls calalllils + Adhallltill \lasica + + AesclIllI s illdiclI + + + Agroslis pilosl/la + Ail/ga bmcI('osa + Albi:il! ci,ill('l/sis + A Ib i:ill jl/librissill + AI/iI/III bllllldlllll + AI/illlll gOl'(llliulIl/1II + AI/illlll sl m c!, eyi + AIIIIIS lIepalellsis + + AlIIlIl"lllIlhlls l'i ritiis + A llllp/wlis CO lltor/ 1I + Allaphalis Iripl illerris + AlltiroPOgOIl 1l11111 roi + Allgelica gloll('{/ + + Apllltill lllllliclI + + A rlelllisia lIilagirica + + A m llt/illllrill f alcaw + + + + + + A rl/l /{lilll'lIl1 l1 epalellsis + A,I,!Hlmglls P/icillllS + ASler rholllsollii + ASli/be rivil/uris + ASlmga/lls cOlldo//ealllls + Bar/eria cristata + BOllhillia relll.l'o + + BOllhillia voriegata + + (Collld) 10 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL I. No. I. OCTOBER 2002 Table I-Etllnobolanical uses of different plant sp<:c ies from Bilagiratili Valley-Colltd Species Medi cine Edible Construction Fodder Fuel Oil Fiber Mi scell aneous Benthalllidia capitola + Berberis aristata + + + + Berberis asiatica + Berberis chit ria + Berberis jaesc/lkealla + Berberis /yCilllll + + + + Berberis pselldolllllbe//a/a + BerRellia cilia/a + Belli/a a/ll oh/es + Be/II/a II/ilis + + + + + Bidells pi/osa + Boe/I/ll eria p/myphy//a + + Boehllleria rugu/osa + Boellllilighausellia + a/bij7om Boerhavia d(flil.w + BOlllbax ceiba + + Buxu.\' wa/lichialla + + Caesa/pillia decape/a/a + + + Ca/licarpa lIIacrophyl/a + + Call1labis sa/iva + + + Capi//ipediulII assillli/e + Capsel/a bursa-pas/oris + Carex brevicu/lllis + Carex cOlldellsa/a + Care.\' il([lIscata + Carex lI eiogYlla + Carex lIiva/is + Carex IIlIbig ella + Cllrex obscurtl + Carex se/igera + Carpillus villlillea + + + Carvopteris adora/a + Cedrus deudam + + + -r- Celtis alls/ralis + Cell/e//a asiatica + Chellopodilllll a/buill + (Call/d) UNIY AL el al: TRADITIONAL AND ETHNOBOTANICAL USES OF PLANTS 11 Table l-Ethnobotanical uses of different plant species from Bhagirathi Valley-CrJllld Species Medicine Ed ible Construction Fodder Fuel Oil Fiber Mi scell aneous Chl},sopoNon grylllls + CilllwlI/omwn lamala + Cissalllpelos pareira + Clelllalis No uriana + C/in opodiwn wnbroslIlII + Colebrookea Opposilijo/ia + Colocasia f!SC lllenla + CO llllll elina pailldosa + Coria ria nepalensis + CO n/liS lJI acrophylla + + COI)'/lI s jacqllelllonlii + CO loneasler aCllm inala + COTOneaSler bacillaris + + Colon eaSIer lIIicrophyllus + + Coroneasi er r.)sea + Crowlaria albida + CupresslI.'· loni/o.I'a + + CII SC llla rej1exa + Cynodon da clylon + + Cynoglossllm gloci1 idial/l11/ + CynoglossulII lan ceolallllll + Cypems nivells + Dac()'lorhiza haragirea + Daphne papyracea + + DaphniphyllulII + hilllalayense Debregeasia salicifo/ia + + + DelphiniulII denlldal/ l11/ + Deslllodiwn elegans + + Deslllodilllll RangeliclIlII + + + DeslI/ odiulII laxi{lorllln + + De.w /O dilllll Irif/orwn + + + Delll zia corYlllbosa + Deulzia slalllin ea + Dioscorea delloidea + + Diplazilllll esclllenWIII + Ephedra gerardiana + + (Co nld) 12 INDIAN J T RADIT IONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL I. No. I, OCTOBER 2002 Table I- Ethnobotani cal uses of differe nt pl ant species fro m Bhagirathi Va ll ey- Collld Species Med icine Ed ible Constructi on Fodder Fuel O il Fiber Mi scellaneous EupaloriulIl atielllJphomlli + FagopyrulII esculelllulIl + + FiCli s selll icordala + + + Fragaria lIubicola + Fraxillus lIIicrallll/(/ + + Galillill aparill e + Galillheria Irichophyl/a + GeraniulI1 lI epalellSe + Geralliulil (J cel/allllil + Geralliulil pralell se + GeralliulI1