Medicinal Plants and Traditional Health Care Knowledge of Vaidyas, Palsi and Others: A Case Study from Kedarnath Valley of Uttarakhand, India Semwal D.P.1,*, Kala C.P.2, Bhatt A.B.3 1Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110 007, India. 2Ecosystem & Environment Management, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India. 3Department of Botany, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India. *Corresponding author: D.P. Semwal, E-mail: dinusem@rediffmail.com
Abstract Systematic surveys of medicinal plants and other ethnobotanical species were conducted in the Kedarnath valley of Uttarakhand state in India by using an integrated approach of botanical collections, group discussions and questionnaires. To examine the distribution of traditional knowledge of local plant species across the different informant's categories, the knowledge was categorized and assessed at three levels - plant identification, plant usefulness and plants uses as medicine. A total of 379 plant species were identified those were distributed among 221 genera and 87 families, of which 59% were herbs, 17% were trees and 13% were shrubs. Results showed differences in ethnobotanical knowledge based on informant's gender, age and cultural sub-groups. In comparison to Vaidyas and Palsi low level of medicinal plant knowledge was found in other group category. Vaidyas and Palsi were the main groups in the region those maintained the traditional knowledge on local flora, especially of medicinal plants. In view of conserving the traditional knowledge of Vaidya and Palsi, it is important to improve their socio-economic conditions through networking and capacity building. Top Keywords Medicinal plants, species richness, traditional knowledge, vaidyas, palsi, indigenous people. Top |