Regional Centre, National Afforestation & Eco-Development Board, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, West Bengal, India.
School of Water Resources Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, West Bengal, India.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2017 Feb 2;197:231-241. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.08.014. Epub 2016 Aug 30.
Medicinal Plant resources of forest origin are extensively used in India for various systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy, Allopathy, Siddha and Ethnic etc. The tribal communities around the Kakrajhore forest in West Medinipur district of West Bengal have their own traditional knowledge based system of curing many diseases using the forest based plant resources similar to ayurveda. The forest comprises of one of the unique treasure and rich source of diversified ethno-botanical wealth and therefore extensive studies is required for proper documentation including ethnomedicinal knowledge of local tribes.
The present study was initiated with an aim to inventorize the ayurvedic medicinal plant recourses and explore the traditional knowledge of tribal people of Kakrajhore forest to treat several diseases along with the sustainable management and conservation of medicinal plants.
The information on the medicinal plant resources were gathered through floristic inventorization with proper sampling method in the study area (N22°42'57.05″, E86°34'58.02″) during the year 2015. For floristic inventorization the study area of 312 ha was delineated by using GPS Receiver. Then total mapped area was divided by virtual grid of 100m apart in both East-West and North-South direction to allocate 60 sample plots by random sampling. In addition to inventorization, the use value (UV) of the species was determined and the informant consensus factor (ICF) was calculated for the medicinal plants found in the study area based on personal interview. Further exploration was carried out to establish linkage with Ayurveda.
The present survey has identified 57 numbers of ethno-medicinal plants belonging to 39 families, used for preparing medicinal remedies. The habit of the plants includes 35% trees, 28% shrubs, 23% herbs and 14% climbers. The most frequently utilized plant parts were the Roots & Tuber roots (26%), Stem which includes Bark, Tubers, Bulb, Rhizome, Gum, Wood & Young shoots (24%), Leaves (18%), Fruits (13%), and Seeds (10%). The most frequent happening ailments are asthma and bronchitis, constipation and dyspepsia, diarrhea, dysentery, ulcer, rheumatism, arthritis, fistula and piles troubles. Most of the Plants (88%) had more than a single therapeutic use. The most important plant species on the basis of use value were Smilex ovalifolia, Emblica officinalis, Curculigo orchioides, Croton roxburghii, Asparagus racemosus, Ziziphus nummularia, Ichnocarpus frutescens, Cisssus adnata, Buettneria herbacea, Litsea glutinosa, Vernonia anthelmintica and Chlorophytum borivilianum. There was a strong agreement among the informants related to the usage of the plants (ICF 0.65-0.93). As per the standard literature in Ayurveda, maximum numbers of documented species (33) are found to be used for 'digestive system disorder' which is analogous to ethnomedicinal use (30), followed by 'skin related problem' i.e. 13 and 20 respectively.
Results show that people living around Kakrajhore forest area hold valuable knowledge of the uses of plant resources and some of the ayurvedic plants represent an important component in local livelihood. Though the Kakrajhore Forest area is rich in medicinal plant resources but the species are susceptible to be endangered by intense exploitation by human communities. More in-depth investigations are required for plants with high UV values on their possible phytochemical and pharmacological activity. Apart from this, sustainable management approach and proper conservation strategy for the area is recommended by involvement of local communities and forest department.
森林来源的药用植物资源在印度被广泛用于各种医学体系，如阿育吠陀、顺势疗法、顺势疗法、顺势疗法、悉达和民族等。西孟加拉邦梅迪纳普尔区卡卡乔勒森林周围的部落社区拥有自己基于传统知识的系统，使用基于森林的植物资源治疗许多疾病，类似于阿育吠陀。这片森林是独特的宝藏之一，拥有丰富的多元化民族植物学财富，因此需要进行广泛的研究，包括当地部落的民族医学知识。
本研究旨在对卡卡乔勒森林的阿育吠陀药用植物资源进行编目，并探索部落人民的传统知识，以治疗多种疾病，同时对药用植物进行可持续管理和保护。
2015 年，通过适当的采样方法，在研究区域（N22°42'57.05″，E86°34'58.02″）进行植物区系编目，收集药用植物资源信息。为了进行植物区系编目，使用 GPS 接收器划定了 312 公顷的研究区域。然后，通过在东西和南北方向上以 100m 的虚拟网格划分总测绘区域，通过随机抽样分配 60 个样本地块。除了编目之外，还根据个人访谈确定了物种的使用价值（UV），并计算了研究区域内发现的药用植物的信息共识因子（ICF）。进一步的探索是为了与阿育吠陀建立联系。
本调查确定了 57 种属于 39 科的民族药用植物，用于制备药用制剂。植物的习性包括 35%的树木、28%的灌木、23%的草本植物和 14%的攀援植物。最常使用的植物部分是根和根茎（26%）、茎包括树皮、块茎、鳞茎、根茎、树胶、木材和幼茎（24%）、叶（18%）、果实（13%）和种子（10%）。最常见的疾病是哮喘和支气管炎、便秘和消化不良、腹泻、痢疾、溃疡、风湿病、关节炎、瘘管和痔疮。大多数植物（88%）有超过一种治疗用途。基于使用价值，最重要的植物物种是 Smilex ovalifolia、Emblica officinalis、Curculigo orchioides、Croton roxburghii、Asparagus racemosus、Ziziphus nummularia、Ichnocarpus frutescens、Cisssus adnata、Buettneria herbacea、Litsea glutinosa、Vernonia anthelmintica 和 Chlorophytum borivilianum。与植物的使用相关，信息提供者之间存在很强的一致性（ICF 0.65-0.93）。根据阿育吠陀的标准文献，发现最多数量的记录物种（33 种）用于“消化系统紊乱”，这与民族医学的使用（30 种）类似，其次是“皮肤相关问题”，分别为 13 种和 20 种。
结果表明，生活在卡卡乔勒森林地区的人们拥有宝贵的植物资源使用知识，其中一些阿育吠陀植物代表了当地生计的重要组成部分。尽管卡卡乔勒森林地区富含药用植物资源，但由于人类社区的密集开发，这些物种容易受到威胁。对于 UV 值较高的植物，需要进行更深入的调查，以了解它们可能的植物化学和药理学活性。除此之外，建议通过当地社区和森林部门的参与，采取可持续的管理方法和适当的保护策略。
