AN ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF WILD MEDICINAL PLANTS USED BY MIGRATORY SHEPHERDS – A TRIBAL COMMUNITY OF WESTERN HIMALAYAS

Conclusion: This study shows that shepherds in tribal areas are highly dependent on ethnobotanical remedies, which evolved over generations of experience and practices, for health care. The common diseases were treated by ethnomedicinal plants such as cough, cold, body pain, Skin infection, wounds, diarrhea, respiratory problems, and sunburn. The collected detailed information on the list of plants and their therapeutic practices among tribal migratory shepherds may be helpful to improve the future pharmaceutical applications.


INTRODUCTION
The Indian Himalayan region is characterized by its unique ecosystem with a wide range of climates and habitat types which supports different flora and fauna [1]. The Himalaya Hotspot is home to the world's highest mountains. The mountains of Himalaya rise abruptly, resulting in a variety of ecosystems [2]. Himachal Pradesh, a North Indian state, is located in the western part of the Himalaya. The state has a wide geographical area (55,673 km 2 ) and altitudinal variation (350-7000 m amsl) with a rich assortment of biotic components [3]. Himachal Pradesh has a forest cover of 26% and rich in medicinal plant species. The plant medications of inhabitants, handed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next generation, gradually became part of the knowledge of ancient civilization [4][5][6][7][8]. Majority of the rural societies possess significant traditional knowledge of natural resources, which they have inherited from their forefather. They closely depend on this knowledge for a variety of reasons related to the social order, health care, economy, shelter, food, etc. However, if the efforts are not made with instant effect, the rich traditional knowledge possessed by tribal society will diminish soon. This calls for an urgent need to document ethnomedicinal plant species. Ethnobotanical information is already given by many workers in different districts of Himachal Pradesh such as Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Mandi, and Kinnaur [9][10][11][12][13]. Moreover, Himachal Pradesh has led to tribal ways of life, adherence to the primitive customs and myths and traditions representing on enormous and difficult terrain of scattered human settlement [14]. The present study is an effort to enhance such surveys and make an addition to utilization of some of the wild medicinal plant species by tribal migratory shepherds which are not recorded earlier from the studied sites. The ethnobotanical information on medicinal plant species of the studied area is expected to provide new dimension's forever expanding the pharmaceutical industry.

METHODS
Himachal Pradesh, a North Indian state, is situated in the heart of Western Himalaya and has a varied geographical grouping, mosaic sociocultural diversity and huge wealth of natural resources [15,16]. The present study is undertaken in Himachal Pradesh situated between 75 0 45'55''-79 0 04'20''E longitude and 30 0 22'40''-33 0 12'40''N latitude. Physiographically, the state consists of three distinct regions outer Himalaya, mid-Himalaya, and greater Himalaya. The outer Himalaya, also called Shivalik hills, ranges from 350 to 1500 amsl. The mid hills cover an area up to 3500 m. The greater Himalaya also called a high altitude alpine zone generally starts from an elevation of 3510m and above. It includes higher altitude areas of Kullu, Kinnaur, Lahul-Spiti, and Chamba districts. Due to diverse ecological conditions and altitudinal differences, the state is rich in plant species, which includes around 3400 species of flowering plants ranging from alpine to tropical zone [1].
Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh is well known for migratory shepherding, where the shepherds move from their places to low hills on a set route to enter sites in Shimla and Sirmaur districts. The present study documents the use of ethnomedicines used by migratory shepherds of district Kinnaur Himachal Pradesh. A total of five field surveys were carried out taking into account the migratory route of the shepherds from high hills to low hills. In the higher reaches of Kinnaur district, the Kinnaure (shepherds) started the movement from five different villages of Kinnaur and these were Kamru, Sangla, Batseri, Rakchham, and Chitkul. Besides, the place of origin of shepherds, surveys were done for four other places, namely -Chopal, (mid hills), Churdhar (mid hills), Renukaji (low hills), and Poanta-Sahib (low hills). These four places were their part of the migratory route. The migratory shepherd's groups were selected randomly for an interview during field visits.
Shepherds migration started from Kamru (2700 m), Sangla (2600 m), Batseri (2700 m), Rakchham (3100 m), and Chitkul (3450 m) in July. These originated sites of migratory shepherds located at high altitude remain cutoff from the rest of the world due to heavy snowfall during winters. The information on ethnobotanical medicines was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire, interview, through participatory discussion and observation from July 2017 to October 2018. The specimens of ethnobotanical medicines being used by migratory shepherds for their health care were collected, dried, and mounted on herbarium sheets, with label information describing when and where they were collected. Plants were identified either in the field itself or with the help of experts from Botanical Survey of India (BSI) Dehradun Uttarakhand and Forest Research Institute (FRI) Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Vouchers of plants were places in the herbarium of Shoolini University, Solan [17].

RESULTS
Harsh environmental conditions cause seasonal migration of shepherds from high hills to low hills in Himachal Pradesh (Fig. 1). Seasonal migration is a traditional process in the tribes of the Himalayan region. It was observed that the majority of shepherds start their migration from their villages (Fig. 2) in July. However, a few also migrate in August and September, but there is no migration as the winters sets in. The migratory shepherds move in a group of their family members. The   Leaf paste applied to heal swollen joint pains.  Juice of bark and seeds and fruits is used. Juice of bark, fruits and seeds is used.

Radha et al.
migration flock includes both goats and sheep and size of the flock varies (Table 1). Shepherds move first to grazing pasture in Chopal (district Shimla) irrespective of their origin place of migration. The shepherds take along with them 2-4 horses for carrying tents and provisions. Often four to five dogs also accompany the shepherds, and in fact, these dogs are trained in protecting the goats and sheep from wild animals and also keep the flock together. The disparity of flock size generally is an indicator of the status of farmer's livestock holding capacity. The present study also indicated that shepherds having a high number of the flock are comparatively well off compared to those with less number. Many studies have reported that flock size is directly associated with migration distance, flock with larger size travel longer distance as compared to small size flocked [18,19]. In our study, it was found that irrespective of flock size, the shepherds travel the same distance. In the second stage, the shepherds then move to Churdhar ranges and from here to Renukaji in Sirmaur district. The routes of migration are generally fixed (Fig. 2) and proper permission is obtained from the authorities for the purpose. Finally, in the months of September-October, they reach the low hills in Poanta-Sahib in Sirmaur district and temporarily settle here up to March, and start their return journey to their respective places by end March (spring season). It was also observed that the shepherds are not highly qualified and it varied from 1 st class to 12 th class (Fig. 3).
The present studies revealed that the livelihood of shepherd's family is dependent either getting food and fruits from the forests/trees on the path they transect and selling the meat and milk products from their herds. The wild plants not only serve as their food but also for their livestock. It was observed that during their migration from upper hills to lower hills a total of 78 medicinal species were being used by the migratory shepherds, and a few of these belonged to the same families. All these medicinal plants are an integral part of shepherd's health-care during migration (Tables 2-4). The collection of various medicinal plants and plant parts varied from plant to plant, depending on their availability and usability. During their seasonal migration, the shepherds are much dependent on forest products for their requirements of fruits, vegetables, and medicines.
As the shepherds move from their respective place of origin (high hills), it was noted that 35 species (herbs, shrubs, and trees) were found to be used by the shepherds for their health care (Table 2). Interestingly, the shepherds informed that their preference for medicine is Picrorhiza kurroa (herb) as it is one of the important in medicines in their tribe. Similarly, in the mid-hills 20 plant species were found to be taken as medicine as the shepherds move toward Shimla hills ( Table 3). Some of the medicinal plant species such as Chenopodium album, Berginia ciliata, Cannabis sativa, Dioscorea deltoidea, Picrorhiza kurroa, and Urtica palviflora found in mid hills were also present in higher hill regions (Table 3). Three species, namely Cannabis sativa, Vitex negundo, and Zanthoxylem armatum were frequently used for medicinal purposes.
The use of many of these medicinal plants has also been reported by many workers from different parts of Himachal Pradesh [20,21].
Due to variation in climatic conditions from high hills to low hills (Table 4), shepherds were commonly affected by many common diseases such as cough, asthma, cold, skin allergy, and fever. Five species from low hills, namely Adhatoda vasica, Hypericum oblongifolium, Rhododendron arboretum, and Urtica dioica were frequently used by shepherds to treat common diseases. The shepherds during migration generally move along the roadside and rarely adopt bridal pathways or shortcuts. For their own stay, they use makeshift tents and shift tents frequently within 5-6 days. There is always a scarcity of food and fodder for themselves and livestock. For this, they explore adjoining areas, particularly degraded lands, fallow fields, and village commons. It was interesting to note that their migration patterns closely mirrors the seasonal availability of natural food, fodder, and medicinal plants.
In Khangchendzonga National Park, it was observed that migration movements match with seasonal fodder resource availability [22]. Shepherds during en route migration face constraints such as food, fodder, water deficit, veterinary facilities, wild animals, predators, and sometimes road accidents of their livestock. Such constraints have also been reported by many previous studies [23][24][25][26].

DISCUSSION
It is also emphasized that sufficient interest has not been put in conserving and promoting traditional wild medicinal plants.  [27,28]. The present trends for surviving healthy long life entirely dependent on the traditional medicines and it possesses several natural constituents to eliminate the critical causes of the disease [29,30]. Plants are a rich source of free radical scavenging molecules such as terpenoids, vitamins, lignins, phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, quinones, alkaloids, coumarins, betalains, amines, and other metabolites which are rich in antioxidant property. The antioxidants property in plant products helps in the stimulation of biological system against oxidative damage [31][32][33]. In the modern day world traditional ethnomedicinal plants play a significant role in the health-care system, but due to lack of interest between the younger generation and their tendency to migrate to cities for lucrative jobs, a wealth of traditional knowledge is decreasing. The need of the hour is to harness this important traditional knowledge and preserve this traditional knowledge for the benefit of future generation. The information generated from the study regarding the ethnomedicinal plants used by tribal migratory shepherds needs a through phytochemical investigation including phytochemical extraction and isolation along with few clinical trials. This could help in creating mass awareness regarding their conservation within the region.

CONCLUSION
In the present investigation, the traditionally using plants as medicinal value by migratory shepherds a tribal community of Western Himalaya were identified. They are using the plants for cough, cold, fever, asthma, skin allergy, bone fracture, abdominal pain, jaundice, body pain, bone fracture, malaria, wound healing, etc., in various forms such as decoction, powder, paste, and juice. The foremost important thing is to give awareness and training to tribal migratory shepherds on a multidimensional basis about sustainable utilization of wild medicinal plant wealth in the hillside management for plant resources. This valuable survey may be useful to improve the pharmaceutical and application in the future.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We are grateful to the migratory shepherds and local peoples of the study area for their cooperation in providing valuable information about ethno aspects. Thanks to experts from BSI Dehradun, Uttarakhand, and FRI Dehradun, Uttarakhand for the identification of ethnomedicinal plant specimens collected from study sites.

AUTHORS' CONTRIBUTIONS
The concept, design, and questionnaire of the study were done by Radha. Fieldwork and literature study was done by Radha. Interpretation of data was prepared by Radha, Dr. Sunil Puri and Dr. Sanjeev Kumar.
Revision of the article was done by Radha and Dr. Sanjeev Kumar.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.