Studies on ethnomedicinal plants used by the Malayali tribe of Kalrayan Hill, Tamil Nadu state

Abstract

An ethnomedicinal plants survey was carried out to collect the information about themedicinal plants found in kalrayan hill and used by the native malayali tribe of SouthernEastern Ghats of India. 80 plant species, belonging to 41 families, which are used intraditional health care system are described under this study. The studies also attempted tofind out the medicines prepared out of these medicinal plants, forms of medicine and theircorresponding ailments. In this communication, the information obtained from the tribalswas compared with the already existing literatures on ethnobotany of India. The documentedethnomedicinal plants were mostly used to cure skin diseases, wounds and rheumatism. Themedicinal plants used by the tribals are arranged alphabetically, and followed by theirbotanical name, family name, common names, vernacular name(s), part(s) used, mode ofpreparation and their corresponding diseases.