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Ethnomedicinal plants used by the mising tribe of Dhemaji District of Assam, India

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Itanagar 79111, Arunachal Pradesh, India
  • 2Department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Itanagar 79111, Arunachal Pradesh, India
  • 3Institute of Bioresource and Sustainable Development, Takyelpat, Imphal 795001, Manipur, India

Int. Res. J. Biological Sci., Volume 6, Issue (8), Pages 37-43, August,10 (2017)

Abstract

Medicinal plants are extensively used as alternative therapeutic tools for the prevention and curing of various diseases and ailments. The present study is focused on the utility of certain medicinal plants on the Mising tribe of Dhemaji district of Assam, India. Dhemaji district is rich in indigenous medicinal plants due to the wide range of habitats. The ethnic people living in the remote areas of the district, depend on traditional medicine. The Misings are distributed all over the district and practised different traditional healing methods, the information of which was generated through field studies and interview with the elderly men or/and women of the community and crosschecking with the information obtained from the local herbalists. The present investigation has revealed in the documentation of a total number of 62 plant species, distributed across 38 families and 57 genera. The most important medicinal plant families were Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Zingiberaceae, Rutaceae, Apocynaceae, Araceae, Urticaceae, Solanaceae and Piperaceae. Most frequently medicated claims were jaundice, malarial fever, cough, stomach ailments, menstrual problems, piles, tonsillitis, blood purification, and skin diseases etc. The most commonly used plant parts were the leaf, root, and rhizome. All these claims need to be subjected to both phytochemical and pharmacological investigations to discover the potentialities of these plants and plant parts as drugs.

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