Documentation of Medicinal Plants from the Undivided Area of Puri District, Odisha, India

The present study was done to record the ethnobotanical information from hill -dwelling aboriginal tribes of the undivided Puri district (Khurda and Nayagarh), Odisha, India. The aim was also to gather the information on medicinal uses of plants by conducting personal interviews with socio-economically backward tribals and to record the accumulated knowledge with the snowball technique. Plants were identified by the users on forest floor and were botanically classified. This study recorded the use of different parts of 52 plant species belonging to 51 genera of 28 different flowering plant families, against 61 human ailments, with special reference to Asthma, Stomach disorder, and Fever. The healers use these plants to cure several diseases like asthma, stomach disorder, skin diseases, piles, constipation, diabetes, fever, cough, toothache, wound healing, headache, leucorrhea, infertility in women, mouth ulcer, heart pain, pimples, indigestion, snake bites, ring worms, thirst, eczema, dysentery, diarrhoea, blood purification, high blood pressure and sore throat. These plants are used as herbal healing sources as a part of cultural practice of local traditional healers down the ages. Among these plants, many are specific to the climate identified zone of the hilly forest patches of the district. The present record of ethnomedicinal data indicated that the backward local ethnic people use plants from their surroundings, as healing sources for all possible ailments. It was revealed from the study that the commonly used plants for the treatment of asthma and malaria, are A. vasica, A. marmelos, A. galangal, C. crista, C. sepiaria, N. arbor-tristis, R. dumentorum, S. indicum and V. negundo.