A comparative study of traditional knowledge of Calotropis procera and Calotropis gigantea among four villages of Jaipur district of Rajasthan

Abstract

An ethnobotanical survey through person to person contact was conducted in four villages of Jaipur district of Rajasthan, India to assess the extent of traditional knowledge about medicinal uses of Calotropis procera and Calotropis gigantea amongst rural folks. During survey medicinal uses from previous documented literature were discussed with villager informants comprised of heterogenous group with respect to sex, qualification and age. Information was gathered in a designed format and PCTK scoring (Person’s Carrying Traditional Knowledge) was calculated. On the basis of PCTK %age scoring and number of medicinal uses narrated/village, both the species were compared. It was found that ethnomedicinal knowledge was highly degraded in Calotropis gigantea as there was no single informant to narrate its traditional use indicating thereby high level TK degradation.