Ethnomedicinal plants used by malayali tribals in yercaud hills, salem district, tamil nadu, india

Abstract

The present study highlights the importance of some medicinal plants in the health care system of Malayali tribal community of Yercaud Hills, Salem district, Tamil Nadu, India. Ethnomedicinal information was collected from malayali tribes through personal interviews and group discussions with 8 randomly selected informants. Use value (UV), fidelity level (FL) and Informant Consensus factor (ICF) were determined.  During the data collection 20 species distributed in 16 families for treating 44 different ailments. Ethnomedicinal plants like Abrus pulchellus, Wall, Andrographis paniculata, Wall.ex.Nees, Asclepias curassavica, L, Asparagus racemosus, Wild, Azadirachta indica, A. Juss, Cassia fistula, Linn, Centella asiatica, Urb, Corallocarpus epigaeus, Hook.f, Curculigo orchioides, Gaertn, Emblica officinalis, Gaerth,Enicostemma littirale, Blume, Hemidesmus indicus, R. Br, Holarrhena pubescens (Buch.Ham.) Wall.ex.G.Don, Leucas aspera, Spreng, Mimosa pudica, Linn, Myrica esculenta, Buch. Ham, Pergularia daemia (Forsk.) chiov, Terminalia bellerica, Roxb, Terminalia chebula, Retz and Toddalia asiatica, Lamk were documented during the study. UV of the encountered plant species ranged from 0.38 to 1.13. The uppermost FCI value is reported for Ejaculation of semen and Bone fracture.  In the present investigation, the FL varied from 50 to 100%.