Ethnobotanical Study of Plants Used to Treat Diabetes by Tribal People of Kolli Hills, Namakkal District,Tamilnadu, Southern India
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International Journal of PharmTech Research CODEN (USA): IJPRIF ISSN : 0974-4304 Vol.4, No.1, pp 404-411, Jan-Mar 2012 Ethnobotanical Study OF Plants used to treat Diabetes by Tribal People of Kolli Hills, Namakkal District,Tamilnadu, Southern India S.Elavarasi1* and K.Saravanan2 PG & Research Department of Zoology, Nehru Memorial College (Autonomous), Puthanampatti-621 007, Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu, Southern India. *Corres.author: [email protected] 1Cell number: +919003991615 2Cell number: +919443757052 Abstract: An Ethnobotanical study was conducted in the Kolli hills, Tamil Nadu through an oral interview to investigate the medicinal plants used in the treatment of Diabetes. In the present study, totally 16 species of plants belonging to 14 families were encountered. The present ethno-botanic study enables proper transfer of knowledge of plant-based treatments (our natural inheritance) to future generations. Key Words: Ethnobotanical study, Kolli Hills, Diabetes, Antidiabetic plants. Introduction traditional medicinal practitioners of Kolli hills and finding new affordable herbal therapies able to Diabetes mellitus is an endocrinological normalize glycaemia. metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, Material and Methods emaciation and weakness due to disturbance in carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism associated The present study was carried out in the tribal with absolute or relative deficiency in insulin secretion pockets of Kolli hills, Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, and/or insulin action1. Diabetes is becoming the third southern India. The area falls within the latitudes “killer” of the health of mankind along with cancer, 11º55’05” to 11º21’10”N and 78º17’05” to 78º27’45” cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease2. Synthetic E. Maximum elevation ranges from 3500 feet to 4500 antidiabetic agents like sulfonylureas, biguanides, feet above Mean Sea Level. Maximum temperature glucosidase inhibitors and thiazolindiones are being ranges from 20º C to 30ºC and minimum temperature expensive and produce serious side effects3. Further ranges from 10ºC to 20ºC. Average rainfall is their use is not safe during pregnancy. Herbal therapy 1445mm. The government reserve forests are seen in recommended for the treatment of diabetes throughout Ariyur, Selur and Vazhavandhinadu. The forest types the world. Herbal drugs are prescribed widely because range from evergreen to moist deciduous and dry of their effectiveness, less side effects and relatively deciduous. Kolli hill is a ‘Naturalists Heaven’ a low cost3. According to WHO more than one million treasure trove of medicinal plants, and the native home people rely on herbal medicines to some extents. As of traditional hill country and people. Since ancient an increase in demand by patients to use of natural times, Kolli hills have always been famous for its products with antidiabetic activity, investigations on medicinal plants. A wide variety of medicinal plants hypoglycaemic agents derived from medicinal plants and herbs used in ayurvedic, siddha and Unani are have gained popularity in recent years. This study natured, cultivated, gathered and sent from here. Even aims to record information on medicinal plants from the common medicinal plants acquire a special value S.Elavarasi et al /Int.J.PharmTech Res.2012,4(1) 405 when grow here, as the medicinal plants from Kolli and by their vernacular names and later validate with hills are generally considered to be more potent and help of Botanist by preparing herbarium. effective. Results and Discussion Ethnobotanical study: Ethnobotanical study was carried out in the A door to door general conversation and Kolli hills, Namakkal District, Tamilnadu with several questionnaire survey was carried out in different tribal traditional healers and local tribal people. Totally 16 settlements of Kolli malai (Kolli hills), Namakkal species of plants belonging to 14 families were known District, Tamilnadu to obtain ethno medical to be effectively used for treating diabetes by the tribal information. The data includes local name of the peoples of Kolli hills of Namakkal District, plants, scientific name and the parts of the plants used Tamilnadu. The details of the collected herbal plants and these plants were collected and identified with the were given in the table 1. help of traditional healers, herbalists or rural dwellers Table 1: Medicinal plants used for the treatment of Diabetes in Kolli hills Common Vernacular name Parts used for S.No Botanical name Family name of plants medicinal purpose Bark, gum, pods, 1. Indian babool Karuvelam Acacia Arabica Mimosaceae leaves and seeds. Fruit, leaves, dried 2. Java plum Naval Syzygium cumini Myrtaceae seed and bark 3. Malabar nut Adhatoda Adhatoda vasica Acanthaceae Leaves Gymnema 4. Gymnema Sirukurunjha Asclepidaceae Leaves and roots sylvestre Bark, leaves and 5. Cluster fig Atti Ficus racemosa Urticaceae unripe fruit Tanner’s Cassia Root, bark, leaves, 6. Aavaram Caesalpiniaceae cassia auriculata flowers and seed. Roots,leaves, unripe 7. Bael Vilvam Aegle marmelos Rutaceae fruits and ripe fruits Hibiscus rosa 8. Hibiscus Sembaruthi Malvaceae Flower sinensis Bark, fruit, root, Justicia 9. Thavasi murungai Moringaceae flower, gum, seeds tranquebariensis and leaves Momordica Fruits, seeds and 10.Bitter gourd Pagal Cucurbitaceae charantia leaves Andrographis 11.The creat Siriyanangai Acanthaceae Leaves paniculata Common milk Euphorbia 12. Ilaikkalli Euphorbiaceae Juice and root hedge neriifolia Terminalia 13.Arjuna Ven marudhu Combretaceae Bark arjuna Eleusine 14.Finger millet Ragi Poaceae Seed coracana Narrow leaved Polygala 15. Periyanangai Polygalaceae Leaves milkwort elonagata 16.Insulin Insulin Costus igneus Zinziberaceae Leaves S.Elavarasi et al /Int.J.PharmTech Res.2012,4(1) 406 Fig.1:Acacia arabica Fig.2:Syzygium cumini Fig.3:Adhatoda vasica Fig.4:Gymnema sylvestre Fig.5: Ficus racemosa Fig.6:Cassia auriculata Fig.7:Aegle marmelos Fig.8:Hibiscus rosasinensis Fig.9:Momordica charantia Fig.10:Andrographis paniculata Fig.11:Euphorbia neriifolia Fig.12:Terminalia arjuna Fig.13:Eleusine coracana Fig.14:Polygala elongata Fig.15:Costus igneus S.Elavarasi et al /Int.J.PharmTech Res.2012,4(1) 407 1. Indian-babool, Acacia Arabica (Mimosaceae) 4. Gymnema, Gymnema sylvestre (Ascelpiadaceae) [Fig.1] [Fig.4] It is a moderate sized tree upto 10m in height A large, woody, bunch branched, climbing and grow in dry and sandy localities and distributed in plant common in the Western Ghats, all over the Tamil western peninsula, the Deccan and Coromandal coast. Nadu and in the Goa territory and in dry forests upto The dark brown or black longitudinally fissured rough 600m. The leaves of the plant are used for various bark and reddish brown heartwood. The bark powder medicinal purposes. Before meal, two leaves of this is used for the treatment of various diseases. plant are given to the diabetic patients for 48 days for The plant extract acts as an antidiabetic agent the complete cure of diabetes. This is the most by acting as secretagogue to release insulin4. common practices of the local herbal healers of Kolli Powdered seeds of Acacia arabica induced hills. hypoglycemic effect in normal rabbits by initiating The indigenous medicinal herb, Gymnema release of insulin from pancreatic beta cells while it sylvestre is a potential natural alternative to chemical was not observed in alloxanized animals4. Oral means of blood sugar regulation9. The word administration of cold water extract of Acacia arabica Gymnema is derived from a Hindu word Gurmar bark to diabetic and normal rats at a dose of 400 mg/kg meaning destroyer of sugar and it is believed that it body weight resulted in significant reduction of blood might neutralize the excess of sugar present in the glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides levels5. body in Diabetes mellitus10. According to Kritikar and Basu11 the habit of chewing a few green leaves of G. sylvestre in the morning in order to keep their urine Java plum, Syzygium cumini (Myrtaceae)[Fig.2] 11 2. clear and to reduce glycosuria . Gymnemic acids A medium sized to large tree, 15-30 m in have antidiabetic, antisweetener and anti-inflammatory height distributed throughout the plains from activities11&12. Himalayas to South India. The parts such as fruit, leaves, dried seeds and bark used for the various 5. Cluster fig, Ficus racemosa (Moraceae) [Fig.5] ailments. The seed powder reduces the blood glucose It occurs all over India, which is a moderate to level. large sized spreading lactiferous, deciduous tree The preliminary studies on Syzygium cumini without much prominent aerial roots. The parts used seeds have shown potent hypoglycemic effect6. for the treatment of various ailments are root, root- Decoction of dry leaves of S. cumini has been reported bark, leaves, fruit and milky-juice. Bark of F. to possess hypoglycemic effect7. racemosa is used as a main ingredient in the poly herbal antidiabetic drug formulation. Local herbal healer prepared another poly herbal formulation by 3. Malabar nut, Adhatoda vasica (Acanthaceae) mixing equal combination of five plants is given to the [Fig.3] diabetic patients as 1 teaspoon before food in the This plant (shrub) grows in most parts of morning and after food in the evening for the effective India, especially in the lower Himalayan regions and in treatment of diabetes. Kerala, Tamilnadu. It is a large glabrous shrub. The The ethanol extract of Ficus racemosa (250 parts used for the various