ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE AND MEDICINAL PLANTS USE BY THE KURUMBA TRIBES IN CHEMMANKARAI, NILGIRI DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU

The present study initiated with an aim to highlight and document the traditional knowledge and medicinal plants used by the Kurumba tribes inhabiting at Chemmankarai area of Nilgiri district, Tamilnadu. During the study selected study area was visited frequently and information was collected through semi directive, open ended interview among the informants of Kurumba tribes. The details on vernacular name of the plant, mode of diagnosis, disease they treat, usage of plants, mode of application were collected. The plants were identified and deposited at the herbaria of Nirmala College for Women, Coimbatore. The results revealed that the total 56 plant species belonging to 31 families and 47 genera have been documented in the present study. The highest number plants being used for fever and wound healing (7), Insect bite, migraine, bath, ulcer, immunity and throat pain (4) followed by joint pain, tooth ache and asthma (3). The habit of the species showed that 68 % of the drugs were obtained from the herbs compared with the other habit plants. The reported potential ethnomedicinal plants could be conserved and further validation need for better utilization and provisions of the documented knowledge.


INTRODUCTION
India is rich in ethnic diversity and indigenous knowledge that has resulted in exhaustive ethanobotanical studies (Uma priya et al 2011). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) about 65-80% of the world's population in developing countries depends essentially on plants for their primary healthcare due to the poverty and lack of access to modern medicine (Sharma et al., 2010). In Indian medicine systems, Ayurveda, Sidha and Unani entirely and Homeopathy partially depend either on plant materials or their derivatives for treating human ailments (Joseph and Justinraj, 2011).
The Western Ghats of India is one such high bio-cultural diversity region, which is one of the global biodiversity hot-spots (Myers et al., 2000). The Nilgiri district has variegated plants propagating both exotic and native flora of substantial recuperative utility. It consists all in all six ethnic groups of anthropological interest. They are Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas, Irulas, Paniyas and Kattunayakas (Rajan and Sethuraman,1991). Every tribal group in this country is unique in the sense that they are characterized with certain special knowledge and skills about medicinal plants used in their traditional system of medicine to cure a wide range of disease (Rajan et al 2003). They subside on food such has honey, fruits and tubers besides other variety of cereals. New medicinal uses of plant have been continuously reported by several workers in different localities (Ranjith and Ramachandran, 2010). The present work is an effort to document and analyze the traditional knowledge regarding the practice and use of plants in treatment for various ailments by Kurumba tribes of Chemankarai, Nilgiri District, Tamilnadu.

Study Area
Blue mountains are some of the most picturesque mountain ranges situated in Southern India. It is located in North Western corner of Tamil Nadu, South India and the district has geographical area of 2,543 sq. kms. Chemmankarai area situated in Coonoor Taluk of the Nilgiri district, Tamil Nadu, India at altitude of 800 to 830 metres above mean sea level (Fig. 1). The places cover a large area of thick forest vegetation which habitats wild animals such as Black panther, Elephants, Deer, Bear, Bison etc. In view of exploitation and conservation of tribal knowledge an attempt has been made to study the ethanobotanical aspect from Chemmankarai area in Coonoor.

Kurumba Tribe
Kurumba tribes are found in the forest area of Chemmankarai, Nilgiri district. They are skilled people in honey collection, food harvesting and medicine preparation. They collect medicinal plants from the deep forest area and utilize it efficiently. These people live in forest area in habitat of wild animals and they are able to sense the smell of the animals nearby or on the way. They make money by selling jack fruits, citrus, Guava, coffee bean cultivation, wild chillies etc., to the Burliar shops on the way to Mettupalayam to Ooty. These people build their houses with stones and red soil.

Data collection
The present investigation was carried out from Chemmankarai area of Nilgiri district to get information from the tribal practitioners and also to cross check the information provided by the practitioners during the earlier visits. The survey was conducted during June, 2016 to November, 2016. The medicinal plants growing in natural habitats of Chemmankarai forest was collected, identified and authenticated with the help of valid references (Hooker, 1875-97;Gamble andFisher, 1935 andMatthew, 1991). At the same time plant species were collected and herbarium sheets were prepared by traditional method and were deposited in Department of Botany, Nirmala College for Women Coimbatore. The details on vernacular name of the plant, mode of diagnosis, disease they treat, usage of plants, mode of administration were collected from the tribal practitioners through direct interviews and oral conversations. The tribal practitioners have a sound knowledge about the medicinal plants around their place to treat the common diseases in family and neighbourhood.

Ailment categories
On the bases of the information gathered from the tribal healers in the study area all the reported ailments were categories (Table 1) viz., kidney stones, cancer, circulatory system, dermatological infection, endocrine disorders, eye infection, fever, gastro intestinal ailment, genito urinary infection, hair problems, piles, poisonous bite, respiratory system disorder and skeleto muscular system disorder.

Documentation of Indigenous ethnomedicinal knowledge
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is an international biosphere reserve in the Western Ghats and it is very rich in floral and faunal diversity. Many ethnobotany studies have been carried out in the Nilgiri hills, but the outcome of the study have not reached the local and scientific communities to explore further. The results of the present study revealed that the 56 plant species are used by Kurumba tribes for herbal remedy for the treatment of various ailments. These species belonging to 31 families, the most represented being Solanaceae (5), Asteraceae and Oxalidaceae (4), Malvaceae, Piperaceae, Myrtaceae and Rosaceae (3), Arecaceae, Sapindaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Zingiberaceae, Lamiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, polygonaceae, Rutaceae and Fabaceae (2). Among the genera Oxalis (3), Solanum, Piper, Leucas and Rubus (2) are the most represented genera in the studied plants (Table 2).

Life form and parts used
Analysis of habit forms indicates 38 plants were herbs, 7 plants were trees, 7 plants were climbers and 4 plants were shrubs (Fig. 3).
Observations were made earlier studies on ethnobotany have also been reported that the herbs are the dominant life form in their study area (Ayyanar and Ignacimuthu,2005;Xavier et al, 2014;Kalaiselvan andGopalan,2014 andKannadhasan et al 2016). According to medicinal preparation of plant parts used, leaves are the most preferable part to prepare medicine (39%) followed by whole plant (21%), root (13%), seeds and fruits with 10%, stem (5%) and bark and flowers with 1% (Fig. 4). Similarly Xavier et al. 2014 found that leafy crude drug preparations are mostly recommended for ethnomedicine. Fig. 5 shows the number plants used for treating various diseases.

Method of preparation and mode of administration of plants
The preparation and usage of plant parts were categorized as decoction and raw 12% followed by paste 11%, powder 8%, cooked and juice 7% and raw (5% of the raw materials of plant parts such as fruits, leaf etc.) (Fig. 6). The decoctions were prepared by boiling the plants in water and the water level reduce to about required amount. The preparation of decoction is one of the common ailment practices among some tribal in Tamil Nadu (Ranjith and Ramachandran, 2010;Thirumalai et al., 2012). The paste was prepared by grinding the fresh leaves in water or milk. The mode of administration routes were oral (58%), external application (41%) and Nasal (1%). External application were used to treat piles, skin, wound healing, migraine, broken bones, body pain, head ache, asthma and hairfall. Internal application were preferred to treat fever, ulcer, stomach upset, memory power, digestive disorder, urinary infection, stomach worm, jaundice, cold, tooth ache, rheumatism, diabetics, throat infection and nasal application was for head ache (Fig. 7). The utility of the same was mentioned earlier by Upadhya et al., 2012.

Ingredients added
The medicines were prepared by the Kurumba tribal healers use more than one plants and other ingredients such as honey, goat milk, breast milk, coconut oil, castor oil, salt and ash to improve the tolerability and medicinal property of certain remedies (Table 3). Xavier et al. 2014 have been supported the present findings. Honey and Goat milk are used while intake of prepared medicine in powder forms. Oral medicines are prepared mostly using water, goat milk, breast milk and honey based on the needs.

CONCLUSION
The tribes of Chemmankarai area have been using numerous medicinal plants for therapeutic purpose since immemorial times. The people depend on these medicinal herbs for the treatment of various diseases such as fever, kidney stone, white discharge in women, asthma, skin disease etc., these plants are used readily as on when needed and so there is need for documentation and conservation of such Medicinal plants.