Ethnomedicinal Plants Used in Maharashtra for Treatment of Various Diseases and Disorders Vishal G Beldar*, Parin S Sidat Email: [email protected] Abstract
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Research ArticleBeldar V G, et al: Ethno-medicinal Plants used in Maharashtra Ethnomedicinal Plants used in Maharashtra for Treatment of Various Diseases and Disorders Vishal G Beldar*, Parin S Sidat Email: [email protected] Abstract Abstract Since human civilization, people have been dependent on nature for their daily needs, and chiefly on plants as a source of medicine. This reliance lead to the development of an exclusive system of knowledge known as ethnobotany, which consists of the relationship between plants and their use for various diseases and disorders by the trial and error method. The current review study is an attempt to gather the ethnomedicinal plants used in Maharashtra to treat multiple diseases and disorders. From various revealing literature sources, information has been compiled, mentioning the plant’s family, parts used, method of preparation, etc. In Maharashtra, around 417 plant species belonging to 101 families have been used for primary healthcare. Plants from families like Acanthaceae, Asteraceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Malvaceae, and Poaceae were most frequently utilized in Maharashtra. The people of Maharashtra use these medicinal plants as a single dose or in combination with others. This review article includes 195 medicinal plants form various plant families. Key words: Diseases and disorders, Ethnobotany, Ethnomedicine, Maharashtra, Traditional Medicinal Plants Introduction such as culture, history, personal attitudes, and Since ancient times, numerous civilizations have philosophy. Their theory and practices are, in resorted to nature, chiefly on plants as a source of many cases, somewhat different from conventional medicine. Currently, a significant proportion of the medicines. The ancient use of many alternative world population, particularly that of emerging medicine practices, including experience passed nations, use plants as a primary source of medical down from generation to generation, has proven 3 aid.1 Medicinal plants are the foundation of the safety and efficacy of conventional medicine. Plants are either used as indigenous therapy or as resources (raw material) for both traditional systems isolated active principles for a common source of and modern medicine.2 medicine.4 Indigenous ethnopharmacology has been Approaches by conventional medicine vary considered as an important tool in the exploration significantly from country to country and region of new medicines. Herbal medicines are a common to region as they are affected by specific factors method of complementary and alternative medicine used on the treatment of various forms of ailments around the globe. Medical herbalism was advocated Vishal G Beldar1, Parin S Sidat2 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, due to its rarer side effects and reported efficacy Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai Marathwada against many diseases.4 Campus Jalna, Aurangabad Road, Jalna - 431203, Maharashtra, India Traditionally all medicinal preparations were 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Shree Dhanvantary Pharmacy College, Kim, Surat, Gujarat, India derived from plants, whether in the simple form of plant parts or the more sophisticated way of crude * Corresponding Author extracts, mixtures, etc.5 Crude herbal formulations Date of Submission: 18 Jul 2020, Date of Revision: 20 Jul 2020, Date of Acceptance: 24 Jul 2020 claimed to have major medicinal benefits with or How to cite this article: Beldar V G, Sidat P S. Ethnomedicinal Plants used in Maharashtra for Treatment of Various Diseases and Disorders. MJPS 2020; 6(2): 12-36. 12 Manipal Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences | September 2020 | Volume 6 | Issue 2 Beldar V G, et al: Ethno-medicinal Plants used in Maharashtra without additives. The synergistic interface between have slight or no side-effects, furthermore to their crude drug phytochemicals can play a leading role cultural acceptability. In India, around two million in ethnomedicine. In the discovery of new lead traditional herbal healers still practice it for curing molecule, synergistic herbal formulations used by numerous ailments.11 India holds the world’s second- the traditional healers can be used as essential tool.4 largest tribal population after Africa. According to This knowledge became improved over abundant India’s 2001 census, the entire tribal group is 8% generations because of experimentation and of the nation’s population, in which Maharashtra complete observations of animal behaviour. Most has 47 scheduled tribal societies with 9.27% of the of the time, this knowledge is only verbally passed state’s total population.12 on from generation to generation and remains The main objective of the current review is to consequently in danger of being lost in the goodwill gather fragmented literature (ethnomedicines/ of modern medicine. Though, it signifies for the ethnobotany) on the historically used Maharashtrian native folks an opportunity of inexpensive and medicinal plants, to treat various medical conditions straightforward treatment. Ethnopharmacology (Figure 1). There are several plant species, which may serve as the primary indicator of plant are used by local people as well as traditional therapeutic efficacy that could be used to compete healers against different diseases and disorders. The with the traditional synthetic remedy in a drug literature is, however, scattered on ethnomedicinal discovery program. Therefore, the attention plants of Maharashtra. More significantly, data on and urgency of ethnobotanical investigation are the comparative investigation of recorded medicinal 6 understandable. There is currently a universal plants used in Maharashtra are uncommon or not renaissance of ethnobotanical surveys of medicinal available. Such type of comparative analysis of plants and the necessity for screening precise parts recorded medicinal plants would be helpful in the 7 of plants. The goals of ethnobotany are twofold: (1) development of new therapeutic agents for diseases To document shreds of evidence about plant use; (2) or disorders. This analysis will also address gaps in To express the roles and processes of the plant used the existing states of knowledge by establishing a for management of treatment for different ailments. model or baseline for future research activities. For drug discovery, an ethnobotanical survey is one of the most reliable approaches. Ethnomedical evidence from this method can be derived either from plants used in the systematized traditional medical system such as Ayurveda, Unani, traditional Chinese medicine, or from herbalism, folklore, and shamanism that rely on an apprenticeship system of knowledge transmitted through a modern healer or herbalist to subsequent generations.8 Figure 1: Plant parts used in the treatment India is a botanical garden of the biosphere and a gold mine of well-recorded and traditionally well Where, L-Leaf, R-Root, F-Fruit, Sd-Seed, WP-Whole Plant, practiced knowledge of the herbal remedy.9 There B-Bark, Fl-Flower, St-Stem T-Tuber, Lt-Latex, G-Gum, Bu-Bulb, Rh-Rhizome, P-Pod, In-Inflorescence are significant economic welfares in the expansion of indigenous medicines and the practice of medicinal Method plants for the management of several diseases.10 The published scientific literature on the India has a rich flora with an extensive diversity ethnomedicinal plants used in Maharashtra as of plants, because of the extreme dissimilarities in well as data on Maharashtra related medicinal physical and climatic conditions prevailing in the plants was gathered from various databases such nation. A large segment of the Indian population as Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and Google still depends on traditional medicinal plants as Scholar. The use of several keywords, such as they are abundantly existing, inexpensive, and “district name”, “ethnobotany”, “ethnomedicine”, Manipal Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences | September 2020 | Volume 6 | Issue 2 13 Beldar V G, et al: Ethno-medicinal Plants used in Maharashtra “herbal medicine”, and “medicinal plants” assisted contains 195 medicinal plants from various families. in gathering the information needed. Along with (Table 1) this, we also conducted a literature survey of books The plant parts used for treatment for various about ethnomedicinal plants of Maharashtra at diseases and disorders include root, leaf, stem, the library. Database search was performed by tuber, rhizome, whole plant, etc. The most widely using both English and Marathi (Local language used parts are (in descending order); Leaves (27 %) of Maharashtra) keywords. Biological source(s), > Root (16 %) > Fruit (10 %) > Seed (10.5 %) > family, local name(s), part(s) used, method(s) of Bark (8.6 %) > Whole Plant (8 %) > Flowers (3.8 preparation/ formulations, and reference(s) of these %), other parts such as stem, tuber, latex, gum, bulb, plants were summarized in the form of tables and rhizome, pod, inflorescence (Figure 1). Asteraceae, figures. In this evaluation, care was taken for the Acanthaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, identification of herbal and medicinal plants while Fabaceae, and Euphorbiaceae were dominant taking from the primary resources. The inclusion among all the families. The number of plant species of all the medicinal plant knowledge was difficult, belonging to these families was in this order: which are used in Maharashtra for various diseases Euphorbiaceae (13) ˃ Fabaceae (10) ˃ Poaceae and disorders was difficult; however,