Ethnopharmacological knowledge is common and import among tribal populations but much of the information is empirical at best lacking scientific validation. Despite widespread use of plant resources in traditional medicines, bioassay analysis of very few plant species have been conducted to investigate their medicinal properties, and to ascertain safety and efficacy of traditional remedies. The present study analyses indigenous uses of medicinal plants of far-west Nepal and compares with earlier ayurveda studies, phytochemical assessments and pharmacological actions. A field study was carried out in Baitadi and Darchula districts of far-west Nepal. Group discussions, informal meetings, questionnaire surveys and field observations were employed for primary data collection. Voucher specimens were collected with field notes and codes and deposited at Tribhuvan University Central Herbarium (TUCH), Kathmandu. Only 50% of species surveyed shared common uses with ayurvedic medicine. This implies that these herbal remedies are part of an independent health care system in the Nepal Himalaya, which is indigenous and influenced by ayurveda. The folk uses of some of the species were contradicting to those of ayurveda and phytochemical bioassays. A detailed phytochemical study on those species would be an important line of research. IntroductionMedicinal plants help in alleviating human suffering and are widely used for subsistence, home remedies, and trade (Kunwar et al. 2006). It is estimated that 70-80% of people worldwide rely on traditional herbal medicine to meet their primary health care needs (Farnsworth & Soejarto 1991). The ayurveda is an ancient traditional system of medicine with remedies for health and alleviation of illness. The acceptance of the ayurveda is gearing up and use of indigenous drugs of natural/plant origin is a maPublished: January 16, 2009 Ethnobotany Research & Applications 6www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol7/i1547-3465-07-005.pdf cuna pruriens (L.) DC. for Parkinson's disease, Commiphora as a hypolipidemic, Asclepias as cardiotonic, psoralens for vitiligo, curcumines for inflammation, baccoside for mental retention, picrosides for hepatoprotective, diosgenin for the synthesis of steroidal hormones, guggulsterons as hypolipidemic, piperidine as bioavailability enhancers, asarone as hallucinogenic, phyllanthins as anti-virals, withanolides and many other steroidal lactones and their glycosides as immunomodulators (Jain 1994, Patwardhan 2000. As an example, the sale of drugs derived from the plant Taxus The increasing use of traditional therapies demands more scientifically sound evidence for the principles behind therapies and for effectiveness of medicines (Patwardhan et al. 2005). The therapies are often criticized due to dearth of research, critical evaluation, in vivo studies and validations (Fong 2002, Houghton 1995 to support the safety of uses. At the same time, ethnopharmacological knowledge is percolating down these days among the tribal population. The present study, therefore aim...