Pratikkumar Chavada, P. J. Bhatt, Bhagyashri V. Dangar, Kunjan Balai & Rajesh Raviya*
Department of Life Sciences, Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University, Junagadh, Gujarat, India
Received : 3rd January, 2023 ; Revised : 2nd February, 2023
Abstract– For a long time, ethnomedicinal plants have been crucial for curing many ailments in the world. Maldharies of Barda Sanctuary depending on for the purpose of medicine on plants and most of them having traditional knowledge on how to use different medicinal plants as remedy to treat like cough, fever, asthma, headache and other diseases. This study was started for the identification of medicine men who have been using plants as medicines in Barda Sanctuary, Gujarat, India. And also, to document their traditional knowledge quantitatively on how they utilize ethnomedicinal plants. Field study was performed over the duration of 3 years in Barda Sanctuary. Total information related to the utilization of medicinal plants was gathered with the help of questionnaires and structured interviews with the traditional healers. After collecting the data, it was analysed with the help of use value (UV), informant consensus factor (Fic) and fidelity level (FL). Finally, 51 species of plants having medicinal properties distributing in 47 genus which belonged to 31 plant families were commonly used by Maldhari medicine men of Barda Sanctuary. These plants cured 39 ailments. Total 12 categories of ailment were identified. Most used plant part was leaf. Fic values of this study showed that healers had agreed in using the medicinal plants in curing hair care, liver problems and Genito-urinary problems. Dermatological infections had highest use-reports and 32 plant species had fidelity level of 100% being the highest. From the result the plants, Maytenus emarginata, Mitragyna parvifolia, Alstonia scholaris, Phyllanthus emblica, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Pterocarpus marsupium and Mimusops elengi (having high UV), Zizyphus nummularia, Acacia chundra, Carissa congesta, Syzygium cumini and Tamarindus indica (having high FL) are recommended for future studies in ethnopharmacology field for discovering medicines.
Key words: Data analysis, Ethnomedicine, Maldharies, Barda sanctuary
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