An inventory of medicinal plants used in traditional healthcare practices in bundelkhand region of central India

This paper presents the results of a study on traditional healthcare practices of local herbal healers known as Vaidya and other knowledgeable people of Jhansi district of Bundelkhand region. Since knowledge of traditional uses of various medicinal plants is limited to mostly traditional herbal healers, it is of extreme importance to compile and document this heritage for coming generations. In the present study, 100 plant species belonging to 43 genera and 50 families are used traditionally for the curing of more than 45 ailments and diseases. Among all the plant species, trees found to be most dominant (45%) followed by herbaceous plants (32%), shrubs (14%) and climbers both annual and perennials (9 %). The highest number of medicinal plants were recorded in four families viz., Caesalpiniaceae (7 species), Papilionaceae and Apocynaceae (6 species), Euphorbiaceae (5 species). The traditional medicinal plants were mostly used to cure dysentery, diarrhea, fever, skin diseases, wounds, rheumatism, piles, and digestive disorders, etc.