Ethnobotanical observations in the Ladakh Region of Northern Jammu and Kashmir state, India

Bhattacharyya, A.

doi:10.1007/bf02887067

Cited by 26 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Also Artemisia spp. have reportedly been used as incense in the Himalayas, in particular Nepal and India, [ 10 , 13 , 33 ]. In the Lahoul valley (NW India), members of the Beeling tribe even burned Artemisia maritima L. var.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incense and ritual plant use in Southwest China: A case study among the Bai in Shaxi

Staub

Geck

Weckerle

2011

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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BackgroundRitual and religious uses of plant-derived smoke are widespread throughout the world. Our research focuses on Southwest China, where the use of incense is very common. This study aims to document and analyze contemporary ritual plant uses by the Bai people of Shaxi Township (Jianchuan County, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province), including their related ethnobotanical knowledge, practices, and beliefs.MethodsThe present study builds on previous ethnobotanical research in Shaxi, which started in 2005. Interviews focusing on ritual plant use and associated beliefs were carried out with a total of 44 Bai informants in September 2009 and May and June 2010. The results are supplemented with information on the local religion collected from June to December 2010. All documented species were vouchered, and are deposited at the herbaria of Kunming Institute of Botany (KUN) and the University of Zurich (Z/ZT).ResultsA total of 17 species have been documented for use in incense. They are always used in mixtures and are either burned in the form of powders in a censer or as joss sticks. The smell of the smoke is the main criterion for the selection of the incense plants. Incense is burned for communication with spiritual entities at graves, temples, and cooking stoves, as well as for personal well-being. Cupressus funebris Endl., Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall., and Ligustrum sempervirens (Franch.) Lingelsh. are the most important incense species. Others serve as substitutes or are used to stretch incense powders.ConclusionsIn Shaxi the use of incense mixtures at the household and community level is regularly practiced for communication with ancestors, ghosts, and deities and in some cases to strengthen self-awareness. Some of the documented species are widely used in central Asia and Europe, hinting at the well documented knowledge exchange that occurred in Shaxi, which was a major hub along the influential Southern Silk Road.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incense and ritual plant use in Southwest China: A case study among the Bai in Shaxi

Staub

Geck

Weckerle

2011

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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“…In Himachal Pradesh, the berries of Juniperus macropoda are used to treat colic, cough, chest colds, diarrhea, impotency, and indigestion; the resin is used externally on ulcers [ 152 ]. In the Ladakh range in northern Jammu and Kashmir [ 153 , 416 ] and in Tibet [ 417 ], the needles are used as incense. In Tibet, the needles are used medically to treat kidney diseases [ 417 ], while in Ladakh, tablets prepared from the wood is used for irregular menstrual cycles, amenorrhea or dysmenorrhea [ 418 ] and tablets made from J. macropoda berries, mixed with several other plants, are taken for kidney and urinary disorders [ 419 ].…”

Section: The Genus Juniperusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Himalayan Aromatic Medicinal Plants: A Review of their Ethnopharmacology, Volatile Phytochemistry, and Biological Activities

Joshi¹,

2016

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Aromatic plants have played key roles in the lives of tribal peoples living in the Himalaya by providing products for both food and medicine. This review presents a summary of aromatic medicinal plants from the Indian Himalaya, Nepal, and Bhutan, focusing on plant species for which volatile compositions have been described. The review summarizes 116 aromatic plant species distributed over 26 families.

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“…To date, the Indian Himalayan region has been studied from various perspectives, including research pertaining to ethnic culture, linguistics, ecological environment and climate change, and a large body of scientific data has been generated to document innumerable traditional medical uses of the plant by ethnic communities in the state [56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. In spite of this, limited reliable data exist regarding wild medicinal plant uses within the remote locations; in other words, TK is still not completely explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnobotany of the Himalayas: Safeguarding Medical Practices and Traditional Uses of Kashmir Regions

Bhat

Singh

Surmal

et al. 2021

Biology

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The present study was carried out to enlist the medicinal plants used by the local inhabitants of developing countries such as India, and the district of Kupwara of the Kashmir Himalaya has been targeted. Our research is one of the first study focusing on the statistical evaluation of the cross-cultural analysis between three different communities i.e., Dard, Kashmiri and Gujjar, of the study area. Sampling was carried out in eight villages in 2017 to 2020, and data were collected from 102 informants based on walking transects, to collect plant specimens, and semi-structured interviews. The medical usages of all collected taxa were grouped into 15 disease categories and 81 biomedical ailments. In this study, we documented around 107 plant taxa belonging to 52 families from the local inhabitants of the Kashmir Himalaya, which regulate the livelihood of the people and support cultural ecosystem services. Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Ranunculaceae, Poaceae, Solanaceae, Polygonaceae, Plantaginaceae and Brassicaceae are the top most dominant families. Herbaceous groups of plants were more common than trees and shrubs, and 71.96% of herb taxa were employed as medicine. Liliaceae, Caprifoliaceae and Portulacaceae (FUV = 0.24 each) have the highest family use value (FUV). The most prominent family was Asteraceae (seven genera, nine taxa), followed by Rosaceae and Lamiaceae (six genera, six taxa each). Persicaria Mill., Rheum L., Aconitum L. and Artemisia L. were prominent genera. Valeriana jatamansi Jones ex Roxb. (47UR), Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (45UR), Arisaema jacquemontii Blume (37UR), Asparagus racemosus Willd. (36UR) and Rumex acetosa L. (35UR) were the most important plant taxa with reference to use-reports. The ethnomedicinal applications of Aesculus indica Wall. ex Cambess., Solanum pseudocapsicum L., Ranunculus hirtellus Royle and Cormus domestica (L.) Spach plant taxa are reported here for the first time from the Himalayan Kashmiri people. We recommend further research on ethnopharmacological application of these newly recorded ethnobotanical plants. The medical usage of the plant was limited to different parts of the plant. In terms of the usage percentage, whole plant (26.17%), leaves (24.30%) and roots (19.63%) were found to have the highest utilization. The powder form (40.19%) was the most frequently employed method of drug/medicine preparation, followed by the utilization of extracted juice and/or other extracts (22.43%). The ICF values range from 0.85 to 1.00. Their use to remedy parasitic problems (PAR) and insect bites (IB) (ICF = 1.0 each) had the maximum consensus mentioned by the informants, although the number of taxa employed under this category was very limited. The different plant taxa used for the treatment of the gastrointestinal problems (GAS) was the most prominent disease category (262 URs, 16.19%, 25 taxa, ICF = 0.90). About 65% of the plant taxa studied is indigenous to the Asia or Himalayan regions, and around 35% is found to be exotic in nature. A strong positive correlation was found between age, gender, educational qualification and medicinal plant knowledge. No significant association was between people of different communities interviewed in terms of medical knowledge of the plants, p = 0.347 (>0.05) and χ2 = 2.120. No significant difference was found between the number of species documented concerning gender as p = 0.347 (>0.05) and χ2 =0.885. This study provides the comprehensive status of ethnomedicinal knowledge among three different communities of the study area. This study provided an impetus in discovering the baseline primary data for molecules which would help in drug discovery and management of various diseases, apart from conserving the genepool of plants in the investigated area.

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Ethnobotanical observations in the Ladakh Region of Northern Jammu and Kashmir state, India

Cited by 26 publications

References 4 publications

Incense and ritual plant use in Southwest China: A case study among the Bai in Shaxi

Incense and ritual plant use in Southwest China: A case study among the Bai in Shaxi

Himalayan Aromatic Medicinal Plants: A Review of their Ethnopharmacology, Volatile Phytochemistry, and Biological Activities

Ethnobotany of the Himalayas: Safeguarding Medical Practices and Traditional Uses of Kashmir Regions

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