Ethnomedicinal investigation of medicinal plants from tribal communities of Uttarakhand

Abstract

Medicinal plants come under Non timber forest product (NTFPs), which play an significant role in livelihood making of local traditional healers of Uttarakhand. In addition to the items of basic need, the forest also provides life-giving NTFP medicines to the natives to cure from different disease as well as economic benefits. This study has been done to document medicinal plants from different areas of Uttarakhand. In which Mana village and Niti Valley of Chamoli district, Munsiyari in Pithoragarh and Harsil, Taluka in Uttarkashi were included, where different tribal peoples are directly dependent on the forests for their basic needs. Even today NTFPs are collected from the forests by the tribal people and sold in the local markets for sustenance. The present paper provides information on the use of indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants for the prevention of various diseases by people in tribal pockets.