Inventory of ethnobotanicals and other systematic procedures for regional conservation of medicinal and sacred plants

Abstract

The plant diversity of western Madhya Pradesh is reducing at the fast rate due to anthropogenic disturbances and environmental degradation. Disturbance is a major factor responsible for the fragmentation of forest vegetation; as a result, there is a preponderance of small patches, and some of them are still preserved as sacred groves because of strong religious beliefs held by the indigenous people of Jhabua district of western Madhya Pradesh. Dungari mata sacred grove is situated near Katthiwada village in Jhabua district of western Madhya Pradesh that considered being residence of local deities. The Bhil and Bhilala are the most dominant tribe of the study area and depend upon the forest resources for their livelihood. About 339 species, 286 genera and 82 families were found in the grove. Fabaceae (38 species), Poaceae (33 species) and Asteraceae (20 species) were dominant families, and the Ipomoea was the largest genus, with five species. About 69 tree species, 25 shrubs, 157 herbs, 40 grasses, 3 epiphytes and 45 climbers and lianas were found in the groves. Some threatened plant species are growing over here that are not found elsewhere, and they comes under various threat categories. About threatened taxa, 81 species were recorded from the grove that comes under various threat categories. The present status of the grove is of concern, as it is gradually declining under constant anthropogenic pressure. Their better management and protection are important for the conservation of plant diversity in the region and also for the benefit of indigenous tribes of the state.

Diversity and Distribution of Traditional Home Gardens Along Different Disturbances in a Dry Tropical Region, India

“…The dominance of these native and wild plants in home gardens was by Whitney et al (2018a,b) and Kala (2010). Our study found a variety of threatened species, including Abrus precatorious and A. paeoniifolius as endangered, B. lanzan and S. febrifuga as vulnerable, and Woodfordia fruticosa and Aegle marmelos are near threatened, which is consistent with the findings of Wagh and Jain (2015) in central India.…”

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“…Sacred sites/shrines have large harbor of medicinally important plant species 10,11 . The herbal medicine provided the therapeutic requirement for>80% people of the world, which mostly cover the remote areas of developing countries 12 .…”

“…Due to the conservation practices, the unique assemblage of the sacred and medicinal plant is found. Most of the study on medicinal plant of sacred sites in India is reported from Himalayan and south India region 19,9 while, few study were reported from central and eastern India 20,11 .…”