Folk medicinal uses of wetland macrophytes in Darbhanga district of North Bihar

Abstract

Wetland of Darbhanga district provide livelihood for the people who live around them. Even today man of rural area of this district depend upon wetland for multiple purposes. The aquatic plants played fascinating role in the life of human beings in earlier days with respect to medicinal purposes. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted for the purpose of determining the value of traditional remedies by using the standard methods for identifying, exploring medicinal values of aquatic plants in this area. In present paper an attempt has been made to study of aquatic macrophytes used to treat some diseases of rural as well as urban population. Darbhanga district lies between 250 42’ to 260 27’ north latitudes and 850 40’ to 860 25’ east longitudes. The district covers a total area of 2502 sq km. The climate of this district is on the whole dry, hot in summer and cold in winter. Darbhanga district is known as lands of chaurs (land depression caused by changing river courses over millennia) moins (ox-bow-lakes), marandhar (dead river channels) and several other man made pond, lake etc, besides a large area gets flooded during rainy season. By the advancement and modernisation of life pattern the usage of wetland plants are foregone and treated as weeds. The aquatic and semi-aquatic plants of Darbhanga district are rich repositories of various plant species such as Euryale ferox, Nelumbo nucifera, Trapa natans, Centella asiatica, Cyperus rotundus, Ipomoea aquatica, Vetiveria zizanioides, Acorus calamus, Asteracantha longifolia, Ranunculus sceleratus, Ottelia alismoides, Rumex dentatus, Polygonium hydropiper etc. Undesirable side effect of the existing drugs, there is an increasing demand by patients for use of natural products. Herbal plants are widely used even though their biologically active compounds are unknown or lesser known. More than dozen of aquatic macrophytes in the district are significant in medicinal purposes.