Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies Year: 2014, Volume: 2, Issue: 3 Pages: (92-104) ISSN: 2320-3862 Online Available at www.plantsjournal.com Received: 20-03-2014 Accepted: 12-04-2014 Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies Estimation of Ethnobotanical Plants of the Naga of North East India Neli Lokho Pfoze 1, Mechuselie Kehie 2, Highland Kayang 1, Ashiho A Mao 3 1. Department of Botany, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong-793022, Meghalaya, India 2. Post Graduate Department of Environmental Science, Patkai Christian College, (Autonomous) Chumukedima, Seithekema, Dimapur-797103, Nagaland, India. 3. Botanical Survey of India, Eastern Circle, Regional Centre, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. In the present investigation, literature survey on ethnobotanical plants published by different workers was conducted to records data on ethnobotanical uses of plants by the indigenous Naga tribal community. A total of 37 published papers covering about 13 different tribes of the Naga were investigated. Analysis of the taxonomic diversity recorded a total of 628 species belonging to 398 genera and 146 families. Of this, about 73.88% (464) of the species are used as ethnomedicine, 27.23% (171) as edible plants, 13.69% (86) as edible fruits, 5.73% (36) as dyes, 4.30% (27) as fish poison, 1.60% (10) as fermented food and beverage, 1.75% (11) as fodder and pasture grass and about 7.96% (50) for other uses. Further analysis of the species from different taxonomic groups showed that about 95.06% belongs to angiosperms (78.18% dicots and 16.88% monocots) and the remaining 4.94% are from gymnosperm, pteridophytes and edible mushrooms. Moreover, 176 species have been listed to have more than one category of used. This study is an attempt to present the most comprehensive and detailed list of ethnobotanical plants of the Nagas of Northeast India. Keyword: Ethnobotanical plants, Naga community, biodiversity, edible plants. 1. Introduction Although modern cultures have greatly The term Naga is a broad general category and influenced the life of Naga society today, they include several tribes each having its own dialect, still have a culture rich with ethnobotanical and cultural features and settle in different areas of traditional folk practices and are still widely Northeast India. They formed one of the largest depend on nature for food, shelter, and medicines. tribal communities from Northeast India They have a great heritage of oral traditions that comprising about 36 tribes and are mainly are treasured in various research fields. Many of inhabited in contiguous areas in the state of these oral traditions involve beliefs and practices Nagaland, Manipur, parts of Arunachal Pradesh associated with plants and animals. and Assam (Fig. 1). The Nagas are of Mongolian In Northeast India, the areas occupied by the race, speak Tibeto-Burmese language, have racial Naga tribal community are considered as one of and socio-cultural affinities with the inhabitants the most bio-diverse in this biodiversity hotspot of Southeast Asian countries [44]. They have very region. The rich floral diversity of the area is rich cultures and are considered as one of the largely due to wide altitudinal variation, most colorful traditions among the tribal topographical features, soil characteristics and communities in India. Until the advent of the climatic factors which favored the luxurious British in the late nineteenth century, they were growth of plants. The richness of the plant virtually isolated from outside civilization. Prior diversity is also evident from the use of varieties to the advent of Christianity, the Nagas were of wild edible plant species, fruits and medicinal animist with belief in a supreme creator [5]. plants by this hill tribal community. Although Vol. 2 Issue. 3 2014 www.plantsjournal.com Page | 92 Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies some early works on ethnobotanical studies compiled and create a database on ethnobotanical listing wild edible plants, ethnomedicine, bio- plants of the various Naga tribes published by folklore, beliefs and practices have been reported different workers in reputed scientific Journals [10, 11, 24, 33, 34, 35]. However, there is still a good (Table 2 and 3). scope of ethnobotanical field exploration due to existence of diverse cultures and the presence of 2. Materials and Methods rich resources of plants having ethnobotanical 2.1 Study site values. For the conservation of indigenous The study site is located in the North eastern knowledge, proper documentation has been region of India in between 92°37' E - 95°44' E suggested [36]. Hence there is an urgent need for longitudes and 24°19' N - 27°07' N latitudes. The exploration on traditional knowledge of plant area covered 21 districts in four states namely uses, development of database, strategy for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland and Manipur with total geographical areas of 50,969 conservation through sustainable use and 2 management of the resources and also in the Km approximately. The altitudinal elevation search for new potential plant sources as drugs ranges from 200 to 3,826 m a.s.l. The average and food. In view of this, an attempt has been annual rainfall and temperature are 1881mm and made in the present investigation to collect, 19 °C. Fig 1: Map showing the location of Naga inhabited areas of N-E India 2.2 Methods collected publications as a cross reference. A A literature survey and compilation of data on table data format (Table 1) was also created to in ethnobotanical works of the Nagas reported in cooperate all the relevant ethnobotanical different reputed scientific Journals were information’s viz. name of the plant family and conducted during the period from April to species arrange in sequence according to November, 2013. The published literatures were alphabetical orders, use categories like plant used collected from NEHU Central Library; Library of as ethnomedicine, edible plant, edible fruit, fish Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Regional Centre, poison, etc. Only accepted name and not Eastern Circle, Shillong; North East Council synonym of the plant species were considered (NEC) Library, Shillong; papers available online while counting the number of species or genera in from www.niscair.res.in; www.ehsst.org; each family. This is done to avoid repetition of www.sciencedirect.com; www.springer.com, etc. the species name of the same plant. We also checked the reference section of all the Vol. 2 Issue. 3 2014 www.plantsjournal.com Page | 93 Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies Table 1: Data format for recording ethnobotanical plants use by the Naga Categories of ethnobotanical uses S.No Family Botanical name EM EP EF FP FFB DY FPG Misc 1. Acanthaceae Acanthus leucostachys Wall. Y Achyranthes aspera Linn. Y Y Achyranthes bidentata Bl. Y Adhatoda zeylanica Medic. Y Adhatoda vasica Nees Y Y Andrographis paniculata Y Wall. ex Nees Justicia gendarussa Linn. Y Phlogacanthus curviflorus Y Y Ness Phlogacanthus thyrsiflorus Y Y Nees Rungia parviflora Nees Y Scutellaria discolor Wall. ex. Y Y Benth. Scutellaria glandulosa Y Colebr. Strobilanthes acrocephalus Y T. And. Strobilanthes cusia (Nees) Y Imlay Strobilanthes decurrens T. Y Anders. 2. Adiantaceae Adiantum philippense Linn. Y Cheilanthes farinosa (Forst.) Y Y Fee Agaricus campestris Linn. 3. Agaricaceae Y ex. Fr. Agaricus silvaticus Schaeff Y Alangium chinense (Lour.) 4 Alangiaceae Y Harms. 3. Results groups such as angiopserms, gymnosperms, ferns During the literature survey, about 37 published and fern allies, edible fungi, etc. were recorded. ethnobotanical works of the Nagas of N-E India These species belongs to 398 genera and 146 were collected and recorded (Table 2). The paper families. Out of the total 628 number of species of each published work was evaluated to record recorded in this study, 73.88% (464) of the the types of ethnobotanical work according to species are use as ethnomedicine, 27.23% (171) used category, name of the tribe of the Naga as edible plants, 13.69% (86) as edible fruits, where the work was investigated, total number of 5.73% (36) as dyes, 4.30% (27) as fish poison, species, genera and families reported, etc. were 1.60% (10) as fermented food and beverage, listed and recorded. A total of 628 species of 1.75% (11) as fodder and pasture grass and about plant (Table 3) belonging to different taxonomic 7.96% (50) for other uses (Fig. 6) such as fibers, Vol. 2 Issue. 3 2014 www.plantsjournal.com Page | 94 Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies furniture, jams and pickles, oil and gum, highest number follow by the families Asteraceae masticatory, plants use as seasonal indicator, etc. and Zingiberaceae each with 39 and 23 species Similarly, about 318 genera of ethnomedicinal respectively (Fig. 4). Further analysis of the plants, 124 genera of edible plants and 53 genera species from different taxonomic groups showed of edible fruits (Fig. 5) etc. are also recorded in that about 95.06% belongs to angiosperm this study. The number of families belonging to (78.18% Dicot and 16.88% Monocot) and the each used category was also presented in figure 3. remaining 4.94% are from gymnosperm, Analysis of the families with the largest number pteridophytes and edible mushrooms (Fig. 2). of species having ethnobotanical use observed Moreover, about 176 species are recorded to have that Leguminosae with 43 species showed the more than one used category. Table 2: Name of the Naga sub-tribes, type of ethnobotanical works, taxonomic diversity and names of the worker who reported Name of Types of ethnobotanical No. of No. of No. of Ethnobotanical Naga sub- work reported species genera families works investigated tribe Rao & Jamir, 1982b non specific ethnomedicine 54 51 42 [34] ethnomedicine, food, Elangbam et al. 1989 Tangkhul 36 35 23 fibers, etc. [8] ethnomedicine & edible Ao & Angami 110 103 57 Rao & Jamir 1990 [35] plants Zeliang ethnomedicine 50 41 31 Jamir & Rao 1990 [11] Mao ethnomedicine 71 62 49 Mao 1993 [19] Changkija & Kumar Ao folk practices & beliefs …….