Available online 26 May 2015
Ethnomedicinal plants of Kathua district, J&K, India
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
Natural
products, especially those derived from plants, continue to provide new
and important leads in the drug discovery process. The first step in
drug discovery is to document material traditionally used to treat an
ailment. Documentation of such knowledge will lead to its conservation
and facilitate future research on medicinal plant safety and efficacy to
validate traditional use. The present study was undertaken with an aim
to document the ethnomedicinal plants of Kathua district.
Material and methods
The
data were quantitatively analysed using indices like use-value (UV),
informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (Fl).
Results
A
total of 112 informants (78 males and 34 females) were interviewed.
They were using a total of 197 plants from 87 families and 174 genera
for the ethnomedicinal purposes. The most dominant families were
Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Lamiaceae. The most important plants of the
study site on the basis of use-value were Mentha longifolia, Curcuma domestica, Zingiber officinale, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Adiantum capillus-veneris, Viola odorata, Mentha arvensis and Acorus calamus.
The diabetes treatment had the maximum consensus (0.96 ICF) among the
informants. Other important categories with high ICF values were
gastrointestinal disorders and respiratory disorders. Total 23 species
recorded 100% Fl. Medicinal plants with high Fl were Brassica rapa, Plumbago zeylanica, Punica granatum, Catharanthus rosea, Tinospora cordifolia, Acacia catechu, Aegle marmelos, Abrus precatorius, Oxalis corniculata, Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, Achillea millefolium, Tamarindus indica, Taxus baccata and Butea monosperma.
Conclusion
The plants with high UV and Fl like Mentha longifolia, Curcuma domestica, Zingiber officinale, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Adiantum capillus-veneris, Acorus calamus, Brassica rapa, Plumbago zeylanica, Catharanthus rosea, Tinospora cordifolia, Acacia catechu, Oxalis corniculata, Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, Achillea millefolium, Tamarindus indica, Taxus baccata and Butea monosperma should be analysed for pharmacological components and discovery of new drugs.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Ethnomedicinal plants;
- Quantitative analysis;
- Use-value;
- Fidelity level;
- Informant consensus factor;
- Kathua
Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
