Department of Botany, Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai 600 030, Tamil Nadu, India.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Apr 12;134(3):851-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.01.029. Epub 2011 Feb 1.
For thousands of years, medicinal plants have played an important role throughout the world in treating and preventing a variety of diseases. Kani tribal people in Tirunelveli hills still depend on medicinal plants and most of them have a general knowledge of medicinal plants which are used for first aid remedies, to treat cough, cold, fever, headache, poisonous bites and some simple ailments.
The present study was initiated with an aim to identify traditional healers who are practicing herbal medicine among the Kani tribals in Tirunelveli hills of Western Ghats, India and quantitatively document their indigenous knowledge on the utilization of medicinal plants particularly most common ethnomedicinal plants.
Field study was carried out over a period of 4 years in Tirunelveli hills. The ethnomedicinal information was collected through interviews among the Kani traditional healers. The collected data were analyzed through use value (UV), informant consensus factor (F(ic)), fidelity level (FL) and relative importance (RI).
A total of 90 species of plants distributed in 83 genera belonging to 52 families were identified as commonly used ethnomedicinal plants by the Kani traditional healers in Tirunelveli hills for the treatment of 65 types of ailments. These ailments were categorized into 15 ailment categories based on the body systems treated. Leaves were the most frequently used plant parts and most of the medicines were prepared in the form of paste and administered orally. F(ic) values of the present study indicated that there was a high agreement in the use of plants in the treatment of jaundice and diabetes among the users. Dermatological infections/diseases and gastro-intestinal disorders had highest use-reports and 29 species of plants had the highest fidelity level of 100%. The most important species according to their use value were Gymneme sylvestre (2.00), Melia azedarach, Murraya koenigii, Syzygium cumini and Terminalia chebula (1.83).
As a result of the present study we can recommend the plants Alpinia galanga, Azadirachta indica, Calophyllum inophyllum, Gymnema sylvestre, Leucas aspera, M. azedarach, Mollugo nudicaulis, Ocimum tenuiflorum, S. cumini, T. chebula and Tribulus terrestris (with high UV and RI values), Bambusa arundinacea, Datura metel, Evolvulus nummularius, Opuntia dillenii and Physalis minima (newly reported claims with highest FL) for further ethnopharmacological studies for the discovery of potential new drugs.
几千年来，药用植物在世界各地都发挥着重要作用，用于治疗和预防各种疾病。提鲁内尔维利丘陵地区的卡尼部落仍然依赖药用植物，他们大多数人对药用植物都有一定的了解，这些植物可用于急救疗法，治疗咳嗽、感冒、发烧、头痛、毒蛇咬伤和一些简单的疾病。
本研究旨在确定在印度西高止山脉提鲁内尔维利丘陵地区的卡尼部落中从事草药医学的传统治疗师，并定量记录他们对药用植物利用的本土知识，特别是最常见的民间药用植物。
在提鲁内尔维利丘陵地区进行了为期 4 年的实地研究。通过对卡尼传统治疗师的访谈收集民族医学信息。通过使用价值 (UV)、信息共识因子 (F(ic))、保真度水平 (FL) 和相对重要性 (RI) 分析收集的数据。
确定了 90 种植物，这些植物分布在 83 个属，属于 52 个科，被提鲁内尔维利丘陵地区的卡尼传统治疗师认为是治疗 65 种疾病的常用民间药用植物。这些疾病根据治疗的身体系统分为 15 个疾病类别。叶子是最常用的植物部分，大多数药物以糊剂的形式制备并口服。本研究的 F(ic) 值表明，使用者在治疗黄疸和糖尿病方面对植物的使用有很高的一致性。皮肤病感染/疾病和胃肠疾病的报告最多，有 29 种植物的保真度水平达到 100%。根据使用价值，最重要的物种是 Gymneme sylvestre（2.00）、Melia azedarach、Murraya koenigii、Syzygium cumini 和 Terminalia chebula（1.83）。
由于本研究的结果，我们可以推荐 Alpinia galanga、Azadirachta indica、Calophyllum inophyllum、Gymnema sylvestre、Leucas aspera、M. azedarach、Mollugo nudicaulis、Ocimum tenuiflorum、S. cumini、T. chebula 和 Tribulus terrestris（具有高 UV 和 RI 值）、Bambusa arundinacea、Datura metel、Evolvulus nummularius、Opuntia dillenii 和 Physalis minima（具有最高 FL 的新报告主张）等植物进行进一步的民族药理学研究，以发现潜在的新药。
