Ethnomedicinal and ethnopharmaco-statistical studies of Eastern Rajasthan, India

Aim of studyThe study was conducted in Eastern parts of Rajasthan from March 2008 to February 2009 to identify the important species used; determine the relative importance of the species surveyed and calculate the informant consensus factor (ICF) in relation to medicinal plant use.Methodology or Material and methodsA total of 844 villagers (486 men and 358 women) were interviewed using specimen display method and a forest walk with interviewee and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit the knowledge of use of medicinal plants. A total of 213 species of medicinal plants belonging to 68 families were documented.ResultThe family Fabaceae had the highest number of species (28) followed by Euphorbiaceae (14). The majority of informants (46.12%) mentioned Azadirachta indica as most popular remedy for the treatment of various ailments, followed by Ocimum sanctum (25.31%) and Tridax procumbens (21.63%). The average number of medicinal plants known and used by female and male practitioners was similar (χ = 9.192, d.f. = 17, p = 0.941). The number of medicinal plant species reported and used by each informant was not significantly (χ = 40.625, d.f. = 34, p = 0.202) different among the four districts: Alwar (7.80 ± 0.917), Bharatpur (6.88 ± 1.076), Dholpur (7.13 ± 0.965) and Karauli (7.97 ± 1.068).ConclusionFrom the study it is clear that ethnomedicinal information from traditional practitioners provides a corporeal guide towards development of new drugs than the approaches of random screening.