Ethno-botanical survey of medicinal plants used for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery

Abstract

Traditional uses of medicinal plants in healthcare practices are providing clues to new areas of 
research; hence their importance is now well recognized. However, information on the uses of 
indigenous plants for medicine is not well documented from many rural areas of Tamil Nadu including 
Kanyakumari District. The study aimed to look into the diversity of plant resources that are used by 
local people for curing diarrhea and dysentery. Questionnaire surveys, participatory observations and 
field visits were planned to elicit information on the uses of various plants. It was found that 50 plants 
species are commonly used by the local people for curing diseases. In most of the cases (27.57%) 
leaves were used. The knowledge on the total number of medicinal plants available in that area and 
used by the interviewees was positively correlated with people’s age, indicating that this ancient 
knowledge tends to disappear in the younger generation.