Background Indigenous communities use wild plants to cure human ailments since ancient times, such knowledge has significant potential for formulating new drugs and administering future health care. Considering this the present study was undertaken to assess use value, diversity, and conservation concerns of medicinal plants used in traditional herbal care system of a marginal hill community in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand in the Central Himalayan region of India. Methodology Extensive surveys were made in 73 villages to gather information on ethnomedicinal use of plant species used in traditional herbal healing system. A total of 100 respondents were identified (30 herbal healers called ‘ Vaidyas’ and 70 non-healers/natives) and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires, target interviews and group discussion. Some important indices such as the use value index (UV), relative frequency citation (RFC), cultural importance index (CI), and informant consensus factor (F ic ) were calculated for the medicinal plants included in the present study. Result It was recorded that the community use a total of 70 species with 64 genera and 35 families for curing various ailments. Family Lamiaceae recorded maximum number of medicinal plants. 21 species used most extensively in traditional health care system. The major parts of the identified plants used for treatment of various ailments were root/rhizome and leaf. The most common methods used for preparation of these plants were decoction and infusion. Ocimum basilicum L., Cannabis sativa L., Citrus aurantifolia (Christm) Sw., Curcuma longa L.and Setaria italic L. had the highest rate of use report. RFC value ranged between 0.03 to 0.91 with highest values for Setaria italica, Zingiber officinale, Ocimum basilicum, and Rephanus sativus . The traditional knowledge is passed verbally to generations and needs to be preserved for the future bio-prospecting of plants that could be a potential cure to any future disease. Conclusion In recent years the community has access to modern hospitals and medicinal facilities, although a considerable number still prefer medicinal plants for curing select ailments. It is suggested that these ethnomedicial species need to be screened and evaluated further for their effectiveness for pharmacological activity. Also, significant efforts are required to conserve traditional knowledge and natural habitats of wild medicinal plants.

Background: Indigenous communities use wild plants to cure human ailments since ancient times; such knowledge has significant potential for formulating new drugs and administering future health care. Considering this, the present study was undertaken to assess use value, diversity, and conservation concerns of medicinal plants used in traditional herbal care system of a marginal hill community in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand in the Central Himalayan region of India. Methodology: Extensive surveys were made in 73 villages to gather information on the ethnomedicinal use of plant species used in the traditional herbal healing system. A total of 100 respondents were identified (30 herbal healers called Vaidyas and 70 non-healers/natives) and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires, target interviews, and group discussion. Some important indices such as the use-value index (UV), relative frequency citation (RFC), cultural importance index (CI), and informant consensus factor (F ic) were calculated for the medicinal plants included in the present study. Result: It was recorded that the community uses a total of 70 species with 64 genera and 35 families for curing various ailments. Family Lamiaceae recorded the maximum number of medicinal plants. Twenty-one species used most extensively in the traditional health care system. The major parts of the identified plants used for the treatment of various ailments were root/rhizome and leaf. The most common methods used for the preparation of these plants were decoction and infusion. Ocimum basilicum L., Cannabis sativa L., Citrus aurantifolia (Christm) Sw., Curcuma longa L., and Setaria italica L. had the highest rate of use report. RFC value ranged between 0.03 and 0.91 with highest values for Setaria italica, Zingiber officinale, Ocimum basilicum, and Raphanus sativus. The traditional knowledge is passed verbally to generations and needs to be preserved for the future bio-prospecting of plants that could be a potential cure to any future disease. Conclusion: In recent years, the community has access to modern hospitals and medicinal facilities, although a considerable number still prefer medicinal plants for curing select ailments. It is suggested that these ethnomedicinal species need to be screened and evaluated further for their effectiveness for pharmacological activity. Also, significant efforts are required to conserve traditional knowledge and natural habitats of wild medicinal plants.

Background Indigenous communities use wild plants to cure human ailments since ancient times, such knowledge has significant potential for formulating new drugs and administering future health care. Considering this the present study was undertaken to assess use value, diversity, and conservation concerns of medicinal plants used in traditional herbal care system of a marginal hill community in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand in the Central Himalayan region of India. Methodology Extensive surveys were made in 73 villages to gather information on ethnomedicinal use of plant species used in traditional herbal healing system. A total of 100 respondents were identified (30 herbal healers called ‘ Vaidyas’ and 70 non-healers/natives) and interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires, target interviews and group discussion. Some important indices such as the use value index (UV), relative frequency citation (RFC), cultural importance index (CI), and informant consensus factor (F ic ) were calculated for the medicinal plants included in the present study. Result It was recorded that the community use a total of 70 species with 64 genera and 35 families for curing various ailments. Family Lamiaceae recorded maximum number of medicinal plants. 21 species used most extensively in traditional health care system. The major parts of the identified plants used for treatment of various ailments were root/rhizome and leaf. The most common methods used for preparation of these plants were decoction and infusion. Ocimum basilicum L., Cannabis sativa L., Citrus aurantifolia (Christm) Sw., Curcuma longa L.and Setaria italic L. had the highest rate of use report. RFC value ranged between 0.03 to 0.91 with highest values for Setaria italica, Zingiber officinale, Ocimum basilicum, and Rephanus sativus . The traditional knowledge is passed verbally to generations and needs to be preserved for the future bio-prospecting of plants that could be a potential cure to any future disease. Conclusion In recent years the community has access to modern hospitals and medicinal facilities, although a considerable number still prefer medicinal plants for curing select ailments. It is suggested that these ethnomedicial species need to be screened and evaluated further for their effectiveness for pharmacological activity. Also, significant efforts are required to conserve traditional knowledge and natural habitats of wild medicinal plants.

Background Human beings have been dependent on surrounding resources for their survival since time immemorial. Medicinal plants have been an important resource to cure various diseases and ailments. Unfortunately, the knowledge is depleting fast thus deserves to be documented for its proper use. The present study reports ethnomedicinal know-how of a mountain community from central Himalayas of India. Methodology Extensive field visits were made to gather information on ethnomedicinal use of plant species in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand, central Himalayas. Initial survey was done in 73 villages to assess the key persons engaged in herbal healing practices as well as its usage. A total of 100 such persons were identified (70 non-healers/natives and 30 vaidyas ) and finally interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires, target interviews and group discussion. Various indices were also used to evaluate the ethno-medicinal data. Result This study revealed the ethno-medicinal plant diversity, traditional medicinal practices of local herbal practitioners and past and present scenario of ethno-medicinal cure system. A total of 70 medicinal plants used to cure diseases varying from general health care to a few complex ailments with a documented use-report ranging from 03 to 94 and their cultural importance as high as 0.97 within different taxon. A total of 35 families of such medicinal plants were recorded from traditional healers, vaidyas and marginal hill community. This type of knowledge being passed on verbally to generations needs to be preserved for the future bio-prospecting of plants that could be a potential cure to any future disease. Further ethno-botanical indices were employed in the study to analyze the relevance of the study. Conclusion The present study examines the medicinal plants that are available in the vicinity of the community or sometimes grown as daily edible food, providing an effective and affordable treatment to the marginal class of hill community. Such traditional knowledge of the community has enough relevance to provide with them, a sustainable approach which otherwise may create a disarray in conservation efforts leading to human induced intervention efforts in future.

Himalayan communities illustrate a rich agriculture–medicine use system that not only provides adequate dietary diversity and nutrition but also delivers therapeutic security. This study explores the food–medicine interface as observed by the marginal hill communities in the central Himalaya with an aim to assess traditional agriculture and food plants with relation to dietary diversity and nutritional and medicinal values based on comprehensive research. A total of 445 respondents were interviewed to obtain data on food intakes using dietary recall methods and dietary diversity indices (DDIs). The ethnomedical use of plant species was gathered from respondents as well as from various published studies for respective species. Nutritional parameters were collected from the Indian Food Composition Table developed by the ICMR, India to analyze the average nutritional intake. The traditional food system achieves the dietary and nutritional needs of the community within the standard norms. The average household dietary diversity of 7.45, 7.34, and 8.39 in summer, monsoon, and winter seasons, respectively, sustain 79, 74, and 93% of energy requirements in respective, seasons. The average food consumption score (FCS) was 73.46, and all the food exhibited rich phytochemicals, such as amino acids, alkaloids, carotenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, and phenolic acids. These plants also provided effective treatments against several ailments and illnesses, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetics, gastrointestinal issues, and inflammation The indigenous cuisines also have significant food and medicinal values. Considering that the community had significant knowledge of food systems with their nutritional and therapeutic utility, there is a need to protect and document this indigenous knowledge. Also, most of the crops are still under cultivation, so there is a need to create more awareness about the nutritional and therapeutic value of the system so that it could be retained intact and continued. The implications of this research are of both academic importance and practical significance to ensure food–medicine security and avoid malnutrition among rural communities. It is expected that the study would lead to renewed thinking and policy attention on traditional agriculture for its role in food and nutritional security that may lead to a sustainable food supply system.