AN ETHNOBOTANICAL EXPLORATION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN MANAR BEAT, KARAMADAI RANGE, WESTERN GHATS, TAMIL NADU

Objectives: This investigation provides an ethnobotanical information that truly focused on the traditional medicinal plants used by Irula community inhaled in Manar beat to treat various human diseases. Ethnobotanical study about medicinal plants was carried out from January 2018 to December 2018 in Manar beat, Karamadai range, Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu. 
Methods: The traditional in-depth knowledge of medicinal plants was collected during group discussion, interviews, and guided field walks along with tribe. All the traditional medicinal plants collected during the field visit were identified with local floras and the identity was authenticated by Botanical Survey of India. 
Results: A total of 89 medicinally important endemic, threatened and endangered aromatic herbal plants distributed in 71 genera and 42 families were collected and identified. Among the surveyed plants, Fabaceae and Moraceae with eight species were the largest plant families, respectively. Leaves (35%) are most widely used plant part of reported plants and decoction forms are mostly used by Irulas. The surveyed plants were checked for conservation status in Red Data List formulated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; around nine species were listed out. 
Conclusion: The documentation of the medicinal herbal plants will be a good reference to all the young researches to carry out various conservation works.


INTRODUCTION
The traditional knowledge in the use of plant species is a routine practice in rich diversified countries, India is one of the leading countries in this practice with heritage of cultural traditions [1]. Starting from the ancient time, the medicinal herbs play key source of drugs. According to the WHO, the world's large population relies on the traditional systems of medicines, particularly on plant-based system to meet their primary health-care needs [2]. Globally estimated that 300,000 plant species are exist, for this only around 15% have been evaluated to determine their pharmacological potential, so invention of new products from natural sources is nowadays highly encouraged [3]. Some of the important medicinal plants are commercially harvested for the extraction of various types of active ingredients. The various medical traditional systems such as Unani, Siddha, and Ayurvedic are hugely depended on the active medicinal properties of plants, whereas the precious wealth of indigenous knowledge is in danger of being lost. The use of traditional tribe's knowledge also reflects the values embedded in the tradition subheld by elders, especially about traditional medicine. The landscape is an essential to the efficacy of medicines, which is well understood by the practitioners, it should not be seen as "miracle" cures based on chemical compounds, but due to curative energy that draws its medicinal qualities founded on a relationship between the plants and the people [4].
Tribal communities are found dispersed in almost all states of India. There are 533 ethnic communities numbering 51,628,638 tribal people distributed all over India. Conventionally, ethnic people are highly knowledgeable about the medicinal plants and their medicinal values. These indigenous people are using a historical continuity of resource use and possess a broad knowledge base of the complex ecological system in their own localities. This knowledge has been accumulated through a series of observation transmitted from one generation to next generation [5].
The conservation and sustainable utilization of biological resources are achieved through documentation of the indigenous knowledge through ethnobotanical studies [6]. The key threats for medicinally important plants are due to overdependency by local people, grazing, forest fires, and commercial activities. The local people depend on these plants are due to the effective nature, non-availability of medical facilities, and ethnocultural beliefs. Cultivation is clearly a sustainable alternative to the present collection of medicinal plants from the wild habitat [7]. Based on the above concepts, an extensive ethnobotanical survey was carried out in Manar beat, Karamadai range, to document the information about the traditional medicinal practices based on the medicinal plant species. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the traditional uses of local native plants to provide safe and efficient information gathered from Irulas, a local tribe inhabited in our study area and documentation of native and active plant species used for the treatment and prevention of various diseases and ailments.

Data collection
Fieldwork was conducted over the 12 months period focusing on collecting ethnobotanical information from local people about the medicinal plants in Manar beat. A total of 15 tribal people (seven men and eight women) aged between 35 and 85 who were cooperating fully were interviewed. Interview was conducted using semi-structured questionnaires and open-ended conversations at homes. The vegetation of the study area, plants therapeutical properties, and the kind of ailments used were among the questions asked. All kinds of information were documented and recorded.

Identification
Identity of the collected plant species was done with the volumes of The Flora of the Nilgiri and Pulney Hill-tops [8], The Flora of Presidency of Madras [9], and The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic [10]. The identity is authenticated by matched with type specimens available in the herbarium of Botanical Survey of India, Southern Circle, TNAU Campus, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Herbarium specimens were collected and deposited in the Herbarium of Botany Department, Vellalar College for Women (Autonomous), Erode, Tamil Nadu, India, for future reference.

RESULTS
Altogether 89 medicinally important plants belonging to 42 families and 71 genera were documented from the study area ( Figs. 1 and 2). The documented medicinal plants and their vernacular name, family, status, active principle, and ethnomedicinal uses along with mode of preparation have been summarized in Table 1 and Plate 1. These plant species are used for the treatment of many diseases by tribal people. Among the 89 species of angiosperms, 80 species belong to dicotyledons and 9 species belong to monocotyledons. Dicotyledons (90%) are dominant than the monocotyledons (10%). Of 42 families, 37 families belong to dicotyledons and 5 families belong to monocotyledons are recorded in Table 2. Fabaceae and Moraceae were dominated with eight species.
As per the Red Data List formulated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, around nine plants were enumerated in the Red Data List. Among these, eight plants are least con cern and they possess valuable medicinal properties and one plant is vulnerable ( Table 3).

DISCUSSION
From this survey, we have recorded 89 plants belonging to 42 families, most of the plants belong to Fabaceae family in earlier research also supported that even they could find most of the plants belong to Fabaceae family in different regions [11,12]. Fabaceae is of great ethnobotanical importance in indigenous and urban communities throughout the world. Their medicinal value lies partly in their effectiveness in the treatment of a wide variety of human ailments. The variety of chemically active constituents, such as tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids often found in members of this family, are substances with a high level of biological activity, and the fact that they are used extensively would suggest a pattern of global ethnomedicinal knowledge [13]. Cenchrus ciliaris LC 4.
Santalum album V LC: Least concern, V: Vulnerable Leaves and roots are generally forming the most frequently used plant parts in traditional medicine [14,15]. Among the plant parts, the leaves are most frequently used for the treatment of diseases. This is in consonance with the findings [16]. The roots, fruits, bark, gum and latex, stem, seeds, and flowers are also used as per their availability and curing ability. Many indigenous communities throughout the world also utilized mostly leaves for the preparation of herbal medicine [17,18]. Leaves of Azadirachta indica are used for the treatment of skin diseases. The present finding is agreed with the previous report [19,20]. Among the plant part, the root of Aerva lanata is used for the treatment of asthma [21].
The present population is switching back to natural medicine, and in this aspect, documentation of medicinal plants is an important one. This type of documentation will help in the conservation of medicinal plants.

CONCLUSION
The present study revealed that the traditional healers of Manar beat, Karamadai range, are rich in ethnobotanical knowledge.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors of this paper are gratefully acknowledged the Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi, for funding as micro grant research project. Corresponding author thanks to Tamil Nadu Collegiate Education, Chennai for providing scholarship to carry out the research work. Authors thankful to the tribal people of Manar beat, Karamadai range, Coimbatore district for sharing their valuable knowledge and help during my field work.

AUTHORS' CONTRIBUTIONS
Author 1 and 3 to investigate and supervised the findings of this work. Author 1 and 2 performed to separate the tables, figures in category wise and Author 1 performed to writing of the manuscript.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
There are no conflicts of interest.