An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used by the "NALIKE" community in the Bantwala taluk of Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka, India

Abstract

The "Nalike" community, also known as Panar, is one of the tribal communities in the Bantwala taluk in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district. In addition to the practise of ritual dance, the majority of the families in this community embrace traditional medication as a source of income. For the ethnobotanical survey, a total of 25 informants were chosen and documented 160 medicinal plant species from 65 families including their botanical name, trivial name, family name, plant parts used, and medicinal uses. The most frequent families are Leguminosae (17 species), Rubiaceae (9 species), Apocynaceae (7 species), Myrtaceae (7 species), and Lamiaceae (7 species). To cure various disorders, different portions of medicinal plants are employed in the manufacture of various types of traditional medicine such as decoction, infusion, paste, or powder. A total of 39 diseases were identified and classified into nine disease categories. All informants treat paralysis with Syzygium aromaticum, Cinnamomum verum, and Glycyrrhiza glabra, as well as other medicinal plants in various combinations, in the category of neurological illnesses.

Exploration of ethnomedical knowledge of ‘Gowda community’ of Sullia Taluk, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India

“…Both qualitative and quantitative ethno-botanical indices were used to analyze the ethno-botanical data. Quantitative indices such as Uses (US), Frequency of Citation (FC), Use Category (UC), Use Report (UR), Use Value (UV), Relative Frequency of Citations (RFC), Cultural Importance Index (CI), Family Use Value (FUV), Family Importance Value (FIV), Percentage Habit Used, Percentage of Plant Species Used, Consensus value for Plant Part (CPP), Fidelity Level (FL), and Informants Consensus Factor (ICF) were used to quantify qualitative information (4,14,15).…”

“…However, the influence of Western ways of life, the decline in the number of traditional healers and the lack of enthusiasm of younger generations to continue the tradition are accelerating the rapid disappearance of knowledge about medicinal plants (3).There are more than 6000 species of higher plants in the Western Ghats and Southern Peninsula of India, including an E estimated 2000 endemic species. These 2500 species, covering more than 1000 taxa and 250 families, have been used in conventional medical systems (4).…”

Cannabis sativa: 2023-Outbreak and Re-emergence of Nipah virus (NiV) in India: Role of Hemp oil

“…However, many drugs that are available for the treatment of viral diseases possess serious side effects and drugs are active only in the acute phase of the disease [73][74][75][76][77][78]. However, these drug-related treatments remain mostly ineffective, expensive, and long treatment, as well as causing side effects and leading to the development of resistance [73][74][75][76][77][78]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to search for cheaper, more effective, easily available.…”

“…and less toxic chemotherapeutic agents for combating Nipah virus (NiV). Therefore, herbal medicines without any side effects play an important role in controlling human health disorders and infectious diseases [73][74][75][76][77][78]. A broad spectrum of medicinal plants was used as traditional remedies for various infectious diseases.…”

“…A broad spectrum of medicinal plants was used as traditional remedies for various infectious diseases. Indian traditional herbal medicine is very famous since India is leading in the medicinal systems of Ayurveda and Sidha [73][74][75][76][77][78]. Herbal medicines are becoming popular due to their perceived effectiveness, safety and affordability.…”