Eight medicinal plants and soil samples from the Malnad area of Karnataka in South India (N 13 29 0 35.4 00 ; E 75 18 0 02.4 00) were analysed for activity concentrations of natural and artificial radionuclides using HPGe gamma spectrometry. The average annual committed effective dose (AACED) due to the ingestion of radionuclides from medicinal plants were also estimated. The activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 210 Pb, 232 Th, and 40 K were found to vary in the range of 32.27e60.12 Bqkg À1 , 56.09e160.56 Bqkg À1 , 49.61e98.46 Bqkg À1 , and 241.57e712.85 Bqkg À1 , respectively, in the soil samples and 2.66e11.27 Bqkg À1 , BDL to 87.03 Bqkg À1 , 2.42e8.72 Bqkg À1 , and 93.79e6831.40 Bqkg À1 , respectively, in the medicinal plants corresponding to the soil samples. The activity concentration of artificially produced radionuclide 137 Cs was BDL to 12.34 Bqkg À1 in the soil and it was below detectable level (BDL) in all the plant samples. The soil to plant transfer factors (TF) varied from 0.07 to 0.27, BDL to 0.80, 0.04 to 0.13 and 0.17 to 23.80, respectively, for 226 Ra, 210 Pb, 232 Th, and 40 K. The AACED due to the ingestion of radionuclides from the medicinal plants varied from 0.0075 to 0.1067 mSvy À1. The AACED values reported in this study are much below the world average value of 0.30 mSvy À1 for an individual. This indicates that there is no radiological health risk in using these plants for medicinal purposes. This study may also contribute data on local medicinal plants to formulate regulations related to radiological healthcare.