Studies on Ethnomedicinal Plants Used by Malayali Tribals in Kolli Hills of Eastern Ghats, Tamilnadu, India
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Available online a t www.pelagiaresearchlibrary.com Pelagia Research Library Asian Journal of Plant Science and Research, 2013, 3(6):29-45 ISSN : 2249-7412 CODEN (USA): AJPSKY Studies on ethnomedicinal plants used by malayali tribals in Kolli hills of Eastern ghats, Tamilnadu, India Vaidyanathan D., M. S. Salai Senthilkumar and M. Ghouse Basha* P.G and Research Department of Botany, Jamal Mohamed College (Autonomous), Trichirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT An ethnobotanical survey was carried out among the Malayali tribals in various villages of kollihills, Nammakkal District, Tamilnadu, India during July 2011 to june 2013. A total 250 species of ethnomedicinal plants belonging to 198 genera and 81 families and 21 habitats, 228 dicotyledons, 22 monocotyledons were reported with the help of standardised 50 tribal informants between the ages of 40-75. The study shows a high degree of ethnobotanical novelty and the use of plants among the Malayali reflects the revival of interest in traditional folk medicine. The medicinal plants used by Malayalis were arranged alphabetically followed by botanical name, family name, local name, habitat, plant parts used, mode of preparation and ethnomedicinal uses. Key words: Medicinal Plants, Ethnomedicine, Malayali Tribals _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Plants are the basis of life on earth and are central to people’s livelihoods. Tribal people are the ecosystem people who live in harmony with the nature and maintain a close link between man and environment. Indian subcontinent is being inhabited by over 53.8 million tribal people in 5000 forest dominated villages of tribal’s community and comprising 15% of the total geographical area of Indian landmasses, representing one of the greatest emporia of ethno-botanical wealth(Albert , sajem and kuldip gosai, 2006). Traditional medical practices are an important part of the primary health care system in the developing world (Sheldon et al., 1997). Herbal medicines are comparatively safer than synthetic drugs. Plant- based traditional knowledge has become a organized tool in search for new sources of drugs and neutraceuticals (Sharma and Mujundar, 2003). The ethno botanical survey can bring out many different clues for the development of drugs to treat human diseases. Herbal medicines are assumed to be of great importance in the many developing countries (Ghosh, 2003). Considering the current rate of deforestation with the concurrent loss of biodiversity, there is a need for accurate documentation of the knowledge and experience of the traditional herbalists (Grierson and Afolayan, 1999). In this paper, we report the information gathered from Malayali tribals on the plants used for treatment of various diseases in Kollihills of Tamil Nadu, India. 29 Pelagia Research Library M. Ghouse Basha et al Asian J. Plant Sci. Res., 2013, 3(6):29-45 _____________________________________________________________________________ MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area Tamil Nadu is situated in southern end of India, east of Kerala and south of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states. The area of investigation Kollihills is located in Nammakkal district, Tamil Nadu and has an area of 418.5 km latitudinal and longitudinal range of Kollihills are 11 10 – 11 30 N latitude 75 30 E longitude respectively. The hill is bounded by Nammakkal in the south and south west. Rasipuram is in the North East. Attur Taluk is in the North and Trichirappalli district in the east. Kolli hills are also called as sathuragiri or square hill. The hills contain of high rising peaks and ravines. The highest point in kollihills is 4663 feet above M.S.L, but the general level of the upper surface of the hills is not more than 35000 feet (1000m). Its eastern and northeastern flanks drain either into Thurayur valley of the periyar. Forest occupies 44% of the total geographical area. Farming activities occupy about 56% of the area. Malayalis (Malai=hill, ali=dwells) were believed to have migrated from Conjeeveram probably in 1962 A.D, they are Tamil speaking hill tribes and all are mostly agriculturalists. Their pure population can be seen in kollihills (Thurston and Rangachari, 1909). Malayali is one of the 36 scheduled tribes of Tamil Nadu (Jayasree, 2002) and the population of Malayali tribes forms around 54% of total schedule tribes have a general knowledge of medicinal plants that are used for aid remedies, to cough, cold, fever, headache, poisonous bites, and some other simple ailments. The Malayali tribes are abiding in the deep forest area are still dependent on medicinal plants for their primary healthcare and treatment of various diseases. Malayali still supplement their food by gathering roots and tubers from the nearby forest areas. They are extremely hard working and can survive without the help of modern facilities. They are socio-economically backward and most of them are very poor. They are also engaged in seasonal collection of honey, bee wax and some minor forest produce. They cultivate edible plants, like tapioca, pine apple, banana, milts and sash crops such as pepper, coffee, jack fruit glove and cereals like ragi, thinai, makkasolam, samai and panivaraku. The field work in the villages of Malayali in kollihills was commenced from July 2011 –June 2013. The Malayalis settlement was located through a number of field surveys and there were many number of informants between 40 and 75 age were consulted to gather medicinal information. Resource persons with knowledge of medicinal plants were selected based on the experience in the preparation of medicines, whether he/she is a professional medicine man or women, their willingness to share their traditional knowledge and there was of acquiring knowledge as per the methodology (Jain, 1989). The information was collected through interviews and discussions among the tribal practitioners in their local language (Tamil). The responses on the plant prescribed, such as part of the plant used, medicinal uses, detailed information about mode of preparation (decoction, paste, powder and juice) from the usage either fresh or dried and method of application. The collected plant species were identified taxonomically using the Karnatic flora (Gamble, 1935) and the flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic (Matthew, 1983), Indian medicinal plants, dictionary of medicinal plants, poorviga maruthuva nool kalangiyum. The identified plants species were then conformed to the herbaria of Rapinet, Trichirappallai. ABS Botanical garden, Yercaud. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The present investigation revealed that the malayali tribal of the kollihills region were using 250 species of plants belonging to 81 families for medicinal use (Table-1). Among 77 were herbs, 69 were big trees 42 were shrubs, 12 were vine, 6 were sub shrub, climber and climbing shrub, 5 were straggler, 4 were liane, 3 were shrubby herb, shrubby, twining shrub, under shrub and climbing herb, 2 were straggling shrub, 1 were sub shrubby, rambling shrub, small trees, erect culms, bulb and woody shrub. The most commonly represented families were Euphorbiaceae 14 and Acanthaceae 14 (Table-2). They were using this plants to cure diseases like fever, cough, leukemia, asthma, disorders of tooth, diabetes, scabies, piles, stomach pain, indigestion, diarrhea, menstrual disorder, uterine disorders, infertility, rheumatism, jaundice, aphrasoadic, ear diseases , joint pains, inflammation, cold, cough, skin diseases, ulcer, bone fracture psoriasis, kidney stone, pimples, gas trouble, back pain, blood pressure, post natal problem, hydrophobia, lactation, venereal diseases whopping cough, dandruff, constipation, paralytic, ophthalmic obligation, chest pain, blood purification, corroborant, arthritics, labor pain, epilepsy, wounds, dog bite and poisonous bites snake, scorpion and insects (Table -3). This is consistent with the general observations made earlier in relation to ethno botanical studies on some of the other tribal communities of Tamil Nadu, 30 Pelagia Research Library M. Ghouse Basha et al Asian J. Plant Sci. Res., 2013, 3(6):29-45 _____________________________________________________________________________ (Karthikeyani, 2003) on Irular Tribe, (Rajendran, et al., 2002) on Valaya tribe, (Visvanathan, 1997) on Malayali tribe, (Alagesaboopathi et al., 1999 ). TABLE – 1: Distribution of plants under different Habits S. No. Habits No. of Species 1. Herb 77 2. Tree 69 3. Shrub 42 4. Vine 12 5. Sub shrub 6 6. Climber 6 7. Climbing shrub 6 8. Straggler 5 9. Liane 4 10. Twining shrub 3 11. Climbing herb 3 12. Shrubby herb 3 13. Shrubby 3 14. Under shrub 3 15. Straggling shrub 2 16. Rambling shrub 1 17. Small tree 1 18. Erect culms 1 19. Bulb 1 20. Woody shrub 1 21. Sub shrubby 1 TOTAL 250 TABLE – 2: Families with maximum number of Genus & Species S. No Family No. of Genus No. of Species 1. Euphorbiaceae 9 14 2. Acanthaceae 7 14 3. Asteraceae 8 9 4. Asclepiadaceae 9 9 5. Fabaceae 6 8 6. Mimosaceae 5 8 7. Apocynaceae 7 8 8. Rutaceae 7 7 9. Solanaceae 3 7 10. Caesalpiniaceae 3 6 11. Cucurbitaceae 4 6 12. Rubiaceae 6 6 13. Verbenaceae 5 6 14. Lamiaceae 5 6 15. Moraceae 3 6 16. Menispermaceae 4 5 17. Sterculiaceae 4 5 18. Combretaceae 3 5 19. Convolvulaceae 4 5 20. Amaranthaceae 3 5 21. Burseraceae 4 4 22. Piperaceae 2 4 23. Zingiberaceae 4 4 24. Liliaceae 4 4 25. Araceae 4 4 26. Malvaceae 2 3 27. Oxalidaceae 2 3 28. Meliaceae 3 3 29. Vitaceae 2 3 30. Sapindaceae 3 3 31. Poaceae 3 3 32. Capparaceae 2 2 33. Tiliaceae 2 2 34. Rhamnaceae 2 2 35. Anacardiaceae 2 2 36. Myrtaceae 2 2 37. Lythraceae 2 2 38. Plumbaginaceae 1 2 39. Ebenaceae 1 2 40. Loganiaceae 1 2 41. Scrophularaceae 2 2 42. Chenopodiaceae 2 2 43. Polygonaceae 2 2 31 Pelagia Research Library M. Ghouse Basha et al Asian J. Plant Sci. Res., 2013, 3(6):29-45 _____________________________________________________________________________ 44. Aristolochiaceae 1 2 45. Myristicaceae 1 2 46. Urticaceae 1 2 47. Dioscoreaceae 1 2 48. Arecaceae 2 2 49. Ranunculaceae 1 1 50. Magnoliaceae 1 1 51. Annonaceae 1 1 52.