Ethnomedicinal assessment of Irula tribes of Walayar valley of Southern Western Ghats, India

Publication date: May 2018Source: Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, Volume 25, Issue 4Author(s): Arjunan Venkatachalapathi, Thekkan Sangeeth, Mohammad Ajmal Ali, Sulur Senniyappan Tamilselvi, Subramaniyam Paulsamy, Fahad M.A. Al-HemaidcAbstractThe present study was aimed to explore the traditional knowledge of Irula tribal people who are practicing herbal medicine in Walayar valley, the Southern Western Ghats, India. A total number of 146 species of plants distributed in 122 genera belonging to 58 families were identified as commonly used ethnomedicinal plants by them. Interestingly, 26 new claims were also made in the present study. Through the data obtained from Irula tribal healers, the herbs were mostly used for medicine (40.4%) followed by trees (26.7%) and climbers (18.5%). In addition leaves were highly used for medicinal purposes, collected from 55 species (38%) followed by multiple parts from 18 species (12%). Acorus calamus is the species of higher use value (1.80) assessed to be prescribed most commonly for the treatment of cough. High informant consensus factor (1.0) obtained for insecticidal uses and cooling agent indicates that the usage of Canarium strictum and Melia dubia, and Mimosa pudica and Sesamum indicum respectively for that purposes had obtained high degree of agreement among the healers in using these species for the respective purposes. The most commonly used method of preparation was decoction (63%) followed by raw form (23%), paste (12%) and po...
Source: Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences - Category: Biology Source Type: research