Abstract

ETHNO-MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF KANDA RANGE, CHOPAL FOREST DIVISION, HIMACHAL PRADESH

Jagdish Singh*, Joginder Singh, Narinder Kumar, Vaneet Jishtu, Sandeep Sharma, Renu Dhupper

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out to document traditional knowledge on ethno-medicinal plants used by indigenous people of Kanda range, Chopal Forest Division, Himachal Pradesh. Information on these plants was collected from 109 people including traditional healers of ten different villages through semi-structured interview during May-June, 2016. A total of 57 ethno-medicinal plants recorded from the region belong to 35 families and are used to treat various diseases. Of these, 9 were trees, 7 shrubs, 38 herbs and 3 climber species. It was observed that more than forty percent people interviewed didn’t possess any knowledge about the ethno-medicinal plants, which clearly reflects the diminishing trend in knowledge about the medicinal plants. Hence, documentation of the traditional knowledge is very important and this will help in conservation of knowledge and also opportunity for using it in future.

Keywords: Traditional knowledge, Ethno-medicinal plants, Traditional healers, Indigenous people.