Ethno-Medical Informations from Coastal Odisha, a Review

Abstract

Traditional knowledge that is developed through the combined experience of many generations is still practiced in many tribal and rural societies. The aim of this review is to collect informations on the medico-religious plants used in the various ailments by the rural and Tribal population of Odisha with a focus on the pharmacological uses of some plants, in order to create room for future research. The novelty of our review is best understood from the fact that the religious basis of the plants of Odisha and their application has not yet been addressed and this is the first instance that such study is undertaken in a sequential manner. Worldwide accepted databases were searched for plants of Odisha, through electronic search, literature from Indian Classical texts and from different traditional books. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 informants (Age 50yrs, with male 80% & female 20%) at 20 locations around different coastal districts of Odisha to find folkloric use of plants and photographs captured during different rituals observed throughout Year. A total of 46 numbers of plants were found widely used in the coastal district of Odisha for different diseases. The details like scientific name, family, local name and its utilization with the method of preparation were provided. Six plants were found to have religious background and were utilized frequently. Detailed investigations on reviewed plants relating to phytochemistry, pharmacology could be the future research interest in the area of phytomedicine.