Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
    J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2006 Oct 7;2:43.

    Medicinal plants used by traditional healers in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu, India.

    Source

    Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai - 600 034, India. muthu_mathi@yahoo.com

    Abstract

    An ethnobotanical survey was undertaken to collect information from traditional healers on the use of medicinal plants in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu during October 2003 to April 2004. The indigenous knowledge of local traditional healers and the native plants used for medicinal purposes were collected through questionnaire and personal interviews during field trips.The investigation revealed that, the traditional healers used 85 species of plants distributed in 76 genera belonging to 41 families to treat various diseases. The documented medicinal plants were mostly used to cure skin diseases, poison bites, stomachache and nervous disorders. In this study the most dominant family was Euphorbiaceae and leaves were most frequently used for the treatment of diseases.This study showed that many people in the studied parts of Kancheepuram district still continue to depend on medicinal plants at least for the treatment of primary healthcare. The traditional healers are dwindling in number and there is a grave danger of traditional knowledge disappearing soon since the younger generation is not interested to carry on this tradition.

    PMID:
    17026769
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
    PMCID:
    PMC1615867
    Free PMC Article

    Images from this publication.See all images (4) Free text

    Figure 2
    Figure 4
    Figure 1
    Figure 3

      Supplemental Content

      Icon for BioMed Central Icon for PubMed Central

      Save items

      loading

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk