Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

MEDICINAL WEED DIVERSITY AND ETHNO MEDICINAL WEEDS USED BY TRIBAL’S OF KORAPUT, INDIA

Debabrata Panda, Smitanjali Pradhan, Sharat K. Palita and Jayanta K. Nayak

Abstract

In the interior areas of Koraput district, plants become the only source of medicine because lack of modern facilities and remoteness. An ethno botanical exploration was made to find out the medicinal values of common weeds present in crop fields and different places like crop field of rice, vegetable and other localities of Koraput district (Odisha) during 2012-13. During the survey, A total of 33 plant species belonging to 32 genera and 20 families were identified as being used for treatment of approximately 36 ailments or therapeutic indications including headache, toothache and eye inflammations. It has also been observed that more numbers of medicinal weeds were recorded in the family Asteraceae followed by Amaranthaceae and Poaceae. The family like Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae and Poaceae had the largest number of plants used for dysentery, wounds and skin diseases. Mostly leaves were used for preparation of medicines for different ailments and it showed that the use of leaf was about 33 % against different diseases followed by whole plant (29 %) and root (20 %). Further phyto-chemical investigation is necessary before some of them can be used as drugs to serve mankind. It is the need of the hour to explore, identify and utilize new medicinal plants on one hand and, on the other, to help conserve the existing but threatened species of rare medicinal plants of the locality.