Informants consensus on ethnomedicinal plants in Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary of Indian Himalayas

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1 Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 7(4), pp , 25 January, 2013 Available online at DOI: /JMPR ISSN Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Informants consensus on ethnomedicinal plants in Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary of Indian Himalayas Jahangeer A. Bhat, Munesh Kumar*, A. K. Negi and N. P. Todaria Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal , Uttarakhand, India. Accepted 31 October, 2012 The present study was carried out in the protected area of Greater Himalayas, Uttarakhand, India. The study was carried out to understand the consensus on medicinal plants by inhabitants of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary. The study documented 21 plant species that are used medicinally in 17 ailment categories. Out of 21 plant species, 12 species were reported for a single ailment separately and 8 species were reported by informants for more than one ailment. The consensus of informants for the roots and rhizomes were the most frequently used plant parts (68%). The plants which are under rare list in IUCN Red List category observed in the study area are Picrorhiza kurrooa, Aconitium hetrophyllum and Podophyllum hexandrum. The Consensus index factor (F ic ) was found to be higher in the Haematological illness category (1.00) followed by Dermatological and Ophthalmological category which was (0.98). Key words: Ethnomedicinal plants, consensus, informants, ailments, Himalaya. INTRODUCTION In India, of the 17,000 species of higher plants, 7500 are known for medicinal uses (Shiva, 1996). The Charak Samhita, an age-old written document on herbal therapy, reports on the production of 340 herbal drugs and their indigenous uses (Prajapati et al., 2003). Currently, approximately 25% of drugs are derived from plants and many others are synthetic analogues built on prototype compounds isolated from plant species in modern pharmacopoeia (Rao et al., 2004). From the very earliest days of civilization, mankind has turned to plants for healing, a tradition that has survived the arrival of modern medicine and found new strength at the end of 20th century (Sulivan and Shealy, 1997). Even today, 80% of the world s population relies on traditional plant medicine (Singh, 2002; Azaizeh et al., 2003). As elsewhere, in India too, the medicinal use of plants has been practiced from aeons by various rural and tribal communities through the systems of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (Gadgil, 1996). So far about 8,000 species of angiosperms, 44 species of gymnosperms and 600 species of pteridophytes have been reported in the Indian *Corresponding author. muneshmzu@yahoo.com. Himalaya (Singh and Hajra, 1996), of these, 1,748 species are known as medicinal plants (Samant et al., 1998). The state of Uttarakhand is a part of north-western Himalaya and has a dense vegetation cover harboring a vast range of medicinal plants (Singh et al., 2005). The maximum species of medicinal plants have been reported from Uttarakhand (Kala, 2004), followed by Sikkim and North Bengal (Samant, et al., 1998). The ongoing growing recognition of medicinal plants is due to several reasons, including escalating faith in herbal medicine. Allopathic medicines may cure a wide range of diseases; however, their high prices and sideeffects are causing many people to return to herbal medicines which have fewer side effects (Kala, 2005). The instant rising demand of plant based drugs is unfortunately creating heavy pressure on some selected high-value medicinal plant populations in the wild due to over-harvesting. Several of these medicinal plant species have slow growth rates, low population densities and narrow geographic ranges (Kala, 1998; Nautiyal et al., 2002); therefore they are more prone to extinction (Jablonski, 2004). A great deal of traditional knowledge of the use of various plant species is still intact with the indigenous people and this fact is especially relevant with the

2 Bhat et al. 149 mountainous areas such as the Himalaya due to less accessibility of terrain and comparatively slow rate of development (Kala, 2002; Farooquee et al., 2004). The documentation of invaluable indigenous knowledge about medicinal plant species is assuming urgent priority due to the recent controversies that have sprung up from the illegal bio piracy (Heywood, 1995; Loreau and Oteng, 2006; Naranjo, 1995; Mukherjee, 2005; Utkarsh, 2001). The precious indigenous knowledge when supplemented and validated by the latest scientific insights, can offer new holistic models of sustainable development that are economically viable, environmentally benign and socially acceptable (Shinwari and Gilani, 2003). Since ages, through trial and error, people in the Himalayan region have learned and practiced the medicinal usage of plants growing in their close vicinity for treating various ailments. Various studies have been carried out to document the ethnomedicinal uses of plant species growing in the region but the consensus of people regarding the ethnomedicinal cure is completely lacking. In this backdrop, the main objective of this study was to fulfill knowledge gaps in the important area of biocultural diversity and the paper presents an update on plant parts used for various diseases with the consent of inhabitants and status of the medicinal plants which is directly relevant to the welfare of people living in far flung and inaccessible areas of the Kedarnath wildlife sanctuary. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS) was established in 1972 and is famous for the endangered Musk Deer. The KWLS is geographically situated between 30 25' to 30 41' N, 78 55' to 79 22' E in the North-eastern part of Garhwal region of Uttarakhand state, India. The present study was conducted in the Madhmaheshwer area which is the interior part of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary (30 35' 42" to 30 38' 12" N, 79 10' 00" to 79 13' 00" E). The KWLS is one of the largest protected areas (975 km 2 ) in the Western Himalaya located in Chamoli-Rudraprayag districts of Uttarakhand (Singh and Rawat, 2011). It is bordered by high mountain peaks; Kedarnath (6940 m), Mandani (6193 m) and Chaukhamba (7068 m) and extensive alpine meadows that is, Trijuginarayan, Kham, Mandani, Pandavshera, Manpai and Bansinarayan in the north, and several dense broad leave oak mixed forests in the south. The sanctuary covers a wide altitudinal range from 1160 to 7068 m amsl (Quasin and Uniyal, 2010) and has sizeable areas with limited human pressure. This area has unique physiognomic, climatic and topographic conditions. This region receives high precipitation and has diverse climatic conditions; thus is very diverse in both flora and fauna and is characterized by undulating topography, wide variation in the altitude and rainfall, temperature and soil conditions. The KWLS is not only rich in floristic composition and panoramic views but also has enough scope for medicinal stock (Singh and Rawat, 2011). Ethnomedicinal inventory and consensus survey The methods employed during the study were designed with the sole purpose of eliciting the precious wealth information on the ethnomedicinal uses of plants practiced by the people residing in KWLS. Information on plants with ethnomedicinal uses was collected from informants living in villages, shepherds and seasonal porters inside wildlife sanctuary. Field surveys and structured interview schedules during 2009 to 2011 were used to elicit secret knowledge from the people inhabiting inaccessible hinterland of the region. Usually, the survey in the study area started with the interview of elderly and experienced persons both men and women. Besides this, the common people of the study area who themselves have used these plant based medicines for health treatments were interviewed to prove veracity of the curative features of plants. The informants were randomly selected for the consensus and the survey was conducted based on people s opinion on the number of plants used for a particular ailment. Trotter and Logan (1986) developed a method based on the concept of informant consensus for identifying potentially effective medicinal plants. They compared the total case number for each ailment (number of informants that reported a certain illness) with the number of separate remedies for this ailment. The consensus factor (F ic ) gives the relationship between the number of usereports in each category (n ur ) minus the number of taxa used (n t ) and the number of use-reports in each category minus 1 (Heinrich et al., 1998). F ic is thus calculated using the following formula: F ic = n ur - n t / n ur - 1 The consensus factor (F ic ) was used to test the homogeneity of the informant(s) knowledge according to the methods described by Trotter and Logan (1986). About 10% of the inhabitants were interviewed about their dependence on the forest products, especially for medicinal purposes and as the informants regularly visited forests since their childhood so they were well versed with the identification of plants and their use in various ailments. To overcome the language hindrance, the interviews were conducted in the local dialect to avoid communication problems. During the interviews, structured questionnaires were used to obtain information on medicinal plants, including the local name of the plant, plant part used for curing and the diseases for which a particular plant is used etc. In field, some ethnomedicinal plants were also identified by the matching of plants with the pictorial field guide (Murthy, 2011) and specimens of all plants were collected and recorded following the standard methods (Jain and Rao, 1977). Medicinal plant species were identified using standard literature (Gaur, 1999; Naithani, 1984) and doubtful specimens were further verified and submitted at the Herbaria of HNB Garhwal University (Srinagar, Uttarakhand) and Herbaria of Botanical survey of India, North Zone (Dehradun). During this study, only 21 plants have been encountered in the consensus of the people for the different medicinal uses. The plants which were taken for the present study have also been listed earlier by various organizations and scientists who described their status in Himalaya (Table1). The total 17 ailments were categorized into Ophthalmological, Haematological, Urological, General medicines, Dermatological, General surgery and Gastroenterological. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognized and reaffirmed the fundamental requirement of in situ conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats in Article 8 (Singh, 2002). Protected areas are one of the most widely accepted and practically approachable means of biodiversity conservation over the world. One of the prime objectives of the protected area is to assess and monitor

3 150 J. Med. Plants Res. Table 1. Plant species with their local names and the part used in different ailments. Family/Species Local name Plant part used Ailment Apiaceae Angelica glauca Edgew Choroo Roots Indigestion and Constipation Asteraceae Saussurea gossypiphora D. Don Hiyun Kauni Flower Skin diseases Saussurea obvallata (DC.) Edgew. Brama Kamal Roots Cough Berberidaceae Berberis aristata DC. Kirmord Roots Eye irritation Gentianceae Swertia chirayita (Roxb. ex Fleming) Karsten Chiratay Leaves/seeds Fever and blood diseases Morinaceae Morina longifolia Wall. ex DC. Bees Kanora Roots Antiseptic (burns and wounds) Oleaceae Syringa emodi Wallich ex Royle. Ghiya Flower, seeds Fever Orchidaceae Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D. Don) Soo Hat jari Roots Wounds and cuts Gymnadenia orchidis Lindl. Salam Panja Roots Wounds Podophyllaceae Podophyllum hexandrum Royle. Bankakri Roots Antiseptic (wounds) Polygonaceae Rheum australe D. Don Archa Roots Wounds Rheum moorcroftianum Royle Dolu Roots Dysentery and internal wounds Ranunculaceae Aconitium balfouri Stapf Metey Jad Leaves and roots Skin diseases (poisonous) Aconitium hetrophyllum Wallich Atees Roots Fever,cough and stomachache Rubiaceae Galium aparine L. Less kora Roots and Whole/plant Saxifragaceae Bergenia ciliata (Haw.) Sternb. Shelpadi Roots rhizome Eye diseases and to stop bleeding Kidney calculi, diarrhoea and fevers Scrophulariaceae Picrorhiza kurrooa Royle ex Benth. Kutki Roots Fever and stomachache Urticaceae Girardiana diversifolia (Link) Friis Kanthali Whole plant Abdoman pain and Indigestion Valerianaceae Nardostachys grandiflora DC. Masi Roots Heart Tonic Nardostachys jatamansi DC. Jetmansi Roots rhizomes Hairfall Zingiberaceae Roscoea alpina Royle Garoor Panja Roots Urinary Diseases diversity and dominance pattern at regular intervals so that conservation status could be evaluated (Semwal et al., 2007). We documented 21 plant species that are used medicinally in 17 ailment categories. The twenty one (21) plant species identified in this study represented sixteen

4 Bhat et al. 151 Figure 1. Percentage of plant parts used. (16) families under seventeen (17) genera. Family Ranunculaceae, Polygonaceae, Valerianaceae, Orchidaceae and Asteraceae were represented with two species each (Table 1). Out of 21 plant species, 12 species were reported for a single ailment separately and 8 species were reported by informants for more than one ailment. Singh and Rawat (2011) worked in the same area and also reported that a single plant may be used for curing more than one ailment. According to the present study, the consensus of informants for the roots and root rhizomes were the most frequently used plant parts (68%) followed by the flower, leaves, seeds and whole plants accounted for the (8%) each (Figure 1). Singh and Rawat (2011) also reported that roots are the most used plant parts (38%) although the percentage was lower than our results (68%). According to Keter and Mutiso (2012), the leaves are the most frequently used plant parts (48%) followed by the stem bark (16%), roots and root bark (10%) while the fruits, whole plant and aerial parts accounted for less than 10% each. For the indigestion problems, Angelica glauca and Girardiana diversifolia were the species found to be useful to the informants; the plants are also used for the constipation and abdomen pain, respectively. The plants for the ailment of skin diseases were Aconitium balfouri and Saussurea gossypiphora while S. obvallata, Swertia chirayita, Syringa emodi, A. hetrophyllum, Bergenia ciliate and Picrorhiza kurrooa were used by the inhabitants for cough and fevers, Picrorhiza kurrooa and A. hetrophyllum were also used for stomachache and Bergenia ciliata for kidney calculi. The cuts and wounds were cured by the informants with the plant parts of Morina longifolia, Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Gymnadenia orchidis, Podophyllum hexandrum and Rheum australe. The Berberis aristata and Galium aparine plant parts are used in the opthamological problems. The plant parts of Nardostachys grandiflora, Nardostachys jatamansi and Roscoea alpina were used for heart tonic, protection from hair fall and for urinary diseases, respectively (Table 1). The present findings are similar with the findings reported by Singh and Rawat (2011) and Gaur (1999) (Table 2). Earlier studies have reported extra medicinal properties of some plants which were not gathered in the present study (Table 2). Conservation of the worlds' wild genetic resources increasingly depends on a small percentage of land area in nature reserves, especially at a time when natural areas are being rapidly depleted (Macdonald et al., 1989). Keeping in view the conservation of medicinal plants in Himalayas, the ecological status of the medicinal plants was assessed through secondary literature and the following plants; Swertia chirayita, Aconitium balfouri, A. hetrophyllum, P. kurrooa and Nardostachys jatamansi were categorised as vulnerable and Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Podophyllum hexandrum as endangered (Semwal et al., 2007). The National Medicinal Plant Board categorised A. balfouri and Saussurea gossypiphora as vulnerable, Nardostachys grandiflora, A. hetrophyllum, P. kurrooa and Dactylorhiza hatagirea as critically endangered while Angelica glauca, Saussurea obvallata, Swertia chirayita and Podophyllum hexandrum had been kept under the category of endangered species (NMPB, 2003). According IUCN Red List Categories, P. kurrooa, A. hetrophyllum and Podophyllum hexandrum are under rare list (IUCN, 1993; Nayar; Shastry, 1987, 1988, 1990). Gaur (1999) categorized Morina longifolia and Roscoea alpine as rare species (Table 3). Only eight species; Berberis aristata, Syringa emodi, Gymnadenia orchidis, Rheum australe, Rheum moorcroftianum, Galium aparine, Bergenia ciliata and Girardiana diversifolia have not been put under any category and seems available abundantly in nature. The product (F ic )/informant s consensus factor ranges

5 152 J. Med. Plants Res. Table 2. Cross check of plant species with their ailments by different authors with present study. Plant species Singh and Rawat (2011) Gaur (1999) Present study Aconitium balfouri Stapf. - Fever and bowl complaints Skin diseases (poisonous) Aconitium hetrophyllum Wallich. Fever,cough and stomachache - Fever, cough and stomachache Angelica glauca Edgew. Dysentery and constipation Bronchitis and constipation Indigestion and constipation Berberis aristata DC. Rheumatism, fever, eye diseases Opthalmia and fever Eye irritation Bergenia ciliata (Haw.) Sternb. Fevers, diarrhoea and pulmonary infections Digestive disorders Kidney calculi, diarrhoea and fevers Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D. Don) Soo Cuts, stop bleeding, Aphrodisiac - Wounds and cuts Galium aparine L. Stops bleeding Astringent (to stops bleeding) Eye diseases and to stop bleeding Girardiana diversifolia (Link) Friis Diuretic Gonorrhoea Abdoman pain and indigestion Gymnadenia orchidis Lindl. - - Wounds Morina longifolia Wall. ex DC. Burns and Boils Burns and wounds Antiseptic (burns and wounds) Nardostachys grandiflora DC. Heart tonic - Heart tonic, blood diseases Nardostachys jatamansi DC. - - Hairfall Picrorhiza kurrooa Royle ex Benth Fever and stomachache - Fever and stomachache Podophyllum hexandrum Royle. Septic wounds - Antiseptic (wounds) Rheum australe D. Don. Wounds - Wounds Rheum moorcroftianum Royle. Dysentery and internal wounds - Dysentery and internal wounds Roscoea alpina Royle. Urinary disease and tuberculosis - Urinary diseases Saussurea gossypiphora D. Don. Asthma and skin diseases - Skin diseases Saussurea obvallata (DC.) Edgew. Cough - Cough Swertia chirayita (Roxb. ex Fleming) Karsten Blood diseases Blood diseases Fever and blood diseases Syringa emodi Wallich ex Royle. Fever Fever Fever Table 3. Status of plant species by different organizations and authors. Plant species Semwal et al. (2007) NMPB (2003) IUCN (1993) Gaur (1999) Aconitium balfouri Stapf Vu Vu - - Aconitium hetrophyllum Wallich Vu Ce R - Angelica glauca Edgew. - E - - Berberis aristata DC Bergenia ciliata (Haw.) Sternb Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D. Don) Soo E Ce - - Galium aparine L Girardiana diversifolia (Link) Friis Gymnadenia orchidis Lindl Morina longifolia Wall. ex DC R Nardostachys grandiflora DC. - Ce - -

6 Bhat et al. 153 Table 3.Continue. Nardostachys jatamansi DC. Vu Picrorhiza kurrooa Royle ex Benth. Vu Ce R - Podophyllum hexandrum Royle. E E R - Rheum australe D. Don Rheum moorcroftianum Royle Roscoea alpina Royle R Saussurea gossypiphora D. Don - Vu - - Saussurea obvallata (DC.) Edgew. - E - - Swertia chirayita (Roxb. ex Fleming) Karsten Vu E - - Syringa emodi Wallich ex Royle R = rare, Vu = vulnerable, Ce = critically endangered, E = endangered. (-) = not available. Table 4. Informant consensus regarding use of taxa in the study area. Category of illness Number of taxa used (n t ) Number of use reports (n ur ) Informant s consensus index factor (F ic )* Ophthalmological Haematological Urological General Medicines (Fever, cough, wounds, antiseptic) Dermatological General surgery Gastroenterological *Fic = n ur - n t / (n ur - 1), providing a value between 0 and 1, where high value indicates a high rate of informant consensus. from 0 to 1. A high value (close to 1) indicates that relatively few taxa (usually species) are used by a large proportion of the healers, while a low value indicates that the informants disagree on the taxa to be used in the treatment within a category of illness. The F ic was found to be higher in the Haematological illness category (1.00) followed by Dermatological and Ophthalmological category which was (0.98). The F ic for Urological and General surgery was (0.97) while F ic for Gastroenterological and General Medicine categories were recorded as 0.92 and 0.85, respectively (Table 4). Kumar et al. (2011) conducted the study in lower belts of Himalayas where consensus survey indicated that the inhabitants have a high level of agreement regarding the usages of single plant. The range of consensus factor index (F ic ) reported was 0.33 to 1.0. The index value was high (1.0) for warts, vomiting, carminative, pain, boils and antiseptic uses, and lowest index value (0.33) was found for bronchitis. Namsa et al. (2011) also carried out a study in Monpa ethynic community of Arunachal Pradesh for consensus index factor

7 154 J. Med. Plants Res. (F ic ) and the value ranged from 0.17 to 0.56 which indicated a high level of consensus. Acknowledgments The authors are thankful to University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India for awarding RFSMS (Research Fellowship in Sciences for Meritorious Students) to Mr. Jahangeer A. Bhat for conducting this research work. Authors are also grateful to PCCF, Wildlife Uttarakhand, DFO Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary for providing necessary permissions and respondents of Madhmaheshwer area for their support during interviews and discussions. REFERENCES Azaizeh HS, Fulder K, Said O (2003). Ethonomedicinal knowledge of local Arab Practitioners in the Middle East Region. Fitoterapia 74: Farooquee N, Majila BS, Kala CP (2004). Indigenous knowledge systems and sustainable management of natural resources in a high altitude society in Kumaun Himalaya, India. J. Hum. Ecol. 16: Gadgil M (1996). Documenting diversity: An experiment. Curr. Sci. 70(1): Gaur RD (1999). 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