Study on medicinal plants used by meitei community of bishnupur district, Manipur

Extensive field trips were organized for collecting the plant species during their flowering & fruiting stages from various field trips and interviews of the local medicine men and village elders among the Meitei Community of Bishnupur district of Manipur. Survey conducted revealed the uses of 106 plant species belonging to 55 families and their use in curing different ailments; 21 plant species of monocotyledons and 85 species to that of dicotyledons. The communities still believes in the traditional use of herbal medicine and maintain herbal gardens in their own homestead. With the advent of modernization and lack of interest by the younger generation, the traditional knowledge of this community in on the verge of extinction and will ultimately lead to loss of valuable knowledge. Therefore, the Ethno botanical study taken should help in conserving traditional knowledge and can ultimately lead to base line of the discovery of new drugs for the benefits of human being at large.