Ethnomedicinal Study of Some Important Plants of Khandesh Region, Maharashtra State, India

Abstract

Ethno medicine is a subfield of ethno botany that deals with the study of traditional medicines with relevant written sources as well as whose knowledge has been orally transmitted over the centuries1. Plants are rich source of medicine in developing countries. 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional medicines to maintain its health. The increasing emphasis on research in Ayurveda, rediscovering the traditional systems of medicine and utilization of medicinal herbs to reduce the side effects of modern medicines demand a greater necessity to explore this vast wealth of crude drugs. Information on plant species which are traditionally used as medicines to treat different diseases obtained from the Bhil, Banjara, Pawra, Gavit and Pardhi tribal community and local people was collected by conducting an extensive ethnobotanical survey in the tribal zones of Jalgaon and Dhule tehsil. It was observed that this community uses traditional medicines to cure common diseases like cough, cold, fever, jaundice, menstrual problems, migraine to disorders like rheumatism, arthritis and even used to treat snake bite or scorpion bite victims. This information was used to tap the potential of locally available medicinal plants resources.