Ethnobotanical Study Among Tribal Communities of Kalimpong, West Bengal

ABSTRACT

Traditional health-care practices of the tribal population of 10 villages of the Kalimpong, West Bengal, were surveyed and documented. The results from the present study were based on interviews with local physicians of indigenous system of medicine, old aged people (>60 y), and traditional herbal healers. A total of 71 plants belonging to 40 families and 63 genera were documented, of which 40.84% of plant species were herbs followed by trees (32.39%), shrubs (12.68%), grass (7.04%), fern and climber (2.82% each), and creepers (1.41%). Leaves of 24 species were used for treatment of different ailments followed by whole plant (17 species), root/rhizomes and fruit (15 species each), bark (14 species), seed/seed pericarp (4 species), seed oil (4 species), twig (3 species), and other parts by one species each. The highest number of plants was used for treating skin-related problems (14 species) followed by diabetes (12 species), fever and stomachache (10 species), diarrhea, dysentery and ulcer (9 species each), gastric problems (8 species) cold and cough and rheumatism (7 species each). Other diseases were treated by using six or fewer number of species. Out of 71 species, 46 were reported to have more than one therapeutic use in the community.

KEYWORDS:

• Medicinal and aromatic plants
• Conservation
• Ethnobotany
• Tribal communities, Himalaya

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to all the local inhabitants of the study area for their warm cooperation, encouragements, and sharing knowledge during exploration activities and for providing much valuable information on the use of medicinal plants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).