2016, Vol. 4, Issue 5, Part B

author(s)
Prasenjit Patari and Md. Jashim Uddin

abstract
Plants have been used both in the prevention and cure of various diseases of humans from time immemorial. The present communication is a preliminary report on the field survey over 192 respondents of the Mog, Reang and Uchai tribes of South Tripura in between 2014-2015 using semi-structured interviews and discussions on ethno medicinal uses of plants. From this the Socio Economic Status (SES) of the respondents, factor informant consensus (Fic), and Fidelity level (FL) were determined. They use about 39 medicinal plants belonging to 27 families and 36 genera for treatment of 54 ailments and the most used families are leguminaceae and malvaceae. The highest Fic value (1) found in poisonous animal bites, blood related disease, reproductive and birth disorder and hair loss could be an indication that these ailments are common in the study area and the species were traditionally used to treat them. The low consensus indicates that the majority of the informants does not agree or exchange information on the use of plant species and this may require bioactivity screening to justify the use for the reported ailments. Canavalia gladiata (Jacq.) D.C. for edema in Mog, Calamus rotang Linn. for insomnia in Reang, Amaranthus gracilis Desf, for edema and Diospyros malabarica (Desr.) Kostel. for cough in Uchai were found to have high FL values indicating the medicinal importance of the species. The data obtained from our informants and analysis in the present paper provides basic understanding on the prevalence of herbal remedies in the 3 ethnic tribes of South Tripura. Further studies are on the way for pharmacological analysis of active constituents and recommended the conservation of the most important species.