Ethnobotanical importance and herbal medicine in Vindhya region of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

Vindhya region is one of the less studied areas and characterized for rich vegetations of India. The plants species observed in the area have immense potential for the management and treatment of various ailments. The present paper reports to the documentation and conservation of ethnomedicinal plants of Sonebhadra district and their socioeconomic relationship with the forest and its resources. The ethnobotanical data were collected using interviews, with local medicine man and field observations. Correct identity of the plants were done with the help of botanical survey of India (B.S.I). Important medicinal plants belonging to different families are documented in the present ethnobotanical study. During survey it was found that many plants were very rare viz Gymnema sylvestre, Withania somnifera, Curiculigo orchioides, Chlorophytum tuberosum, Plumbago zeylanica, Acorus calamus, Celastrus paniculatus etc. The main causes of raring of plants are deforestation, over grazing and increasing population. Due to scarcity of government health facilities in the district the peoples were largely dependent on traditional health care system.


INTRODUCTION
Plants have been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years (Abu-Rabia, 2005).During last few decades there has been an increasing interest in the study of medicinal plants and their traditional use for the development of new drugs.Many reports have been furnished on the use plants in traditional healing either by tribal peoples or indigenous communities of India.The knowledge of medicinal plants has accumulated over the course of many centuries and has been documented in different medicinal system such as Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that about 80% of the population of most developing countries relies on herbal medicine for their primary health care (Azaizeh et al., 2003).In India, it is reported that traditional healers use 2500 plant species while 100species of plants serve as regular source of medicine (Pei, 2001).Documenting the indigenous knowledge through ethno botanical studies is important for the conserving and utilization of biological recourses.The *Corresponding author.E-mail: drpksinghupc@gmail.comTel: 9415388189.Fax: 2281799.
Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License ethnobotany of Vindhya region is a very important and acknowledgeable all over the world.This science showed healthy relationship between human and nature and provides possibilities of finding new user for medicinal plants and can be used to discover new medicines derived from plant origin (Henrich, 2000).
In India there are 550 tribal's communities covered under 227 ethnic groups residing in about 5000 villages in different forest and vegetation type (Sikarwar, 2002).India with its glorious past to the traditional medical system and use pattern of different plants is one of eight major centers of the origin and diversification of domesticated taxa having rich biodiversity.
Sonebhadra district of Vindhya region is one of the less studied regions of India for its ethnobotanical values and therapeutic importance.Local herbs and other plants resources found in that area are the principal sources of medicine for the treatment of various diseases.Local tribal peoples and vaidyas have great knowledge of plants and plant parts for the treatment of diseases.But due to increasing population, over grazing, industrialization many plant become rare in this area.Present study report shows that the area needs conservation and regeneration strategies of the rare medicinal plants and their pharmacological importance in modern medicine system.

Study area
The area under investigation for ethnomedicinal studies falls under district Sonebhadra, U.P. India and came into existence in 1989 after division of district Mirzapur (Figure 1).It is the largest district of Uttar Pradesh in area.It is situated on Vindhyan plateau and Kaimur range lying between 24°42' N to 25°3'55' N and 83°3' 24" E to 83°22'55" E, covering an area of 6788 km.It is present in the extreme south east of the state and is bound by Mirzapur district to the northwest, Chandauli district to north, Bihar state to the northeast, Jharkhand State to the east, Chhattisgarh State to the south and Madhya Pradesh State to the west.
Climatically, the area is dry tropical type.The summer temperature ranges between 22.8 to 42°C and winter between 8 to 17.5°C.The temperature in summer may reach up to 45°C and in winter below 5°C (up to 2°C).The average annual rainfall is 1065 mm.The forest is of tropical dry deciduous type covering an area of 2447 km 2 (Dense Forest -1078 km 2 open Forest -1369 km 2 ).

Approach
The extensive ethnobotanical studies of the area were conducted during the period 2012 to 2016 with the help of tribal people and village medicine-men.Regular trips of the area were made during in summer, monsoon and winter season for collection and observation of different ethnomedicinally important plants.Information regarding ethnomedicinal plants of the area was collected through interviews with many persons who had the traditional knowledge of these medicinal plants (Xavier et al., 2014).
The methods used for ethnobotanical data collection were semistructured interviews with the questionnaire based upon health problems, diagnosis and treatment methods, local name of medicinal plants, plant parts used methods of application, threats to medicinal plants and conservation practices were carefully recorded.During field survey, observation on the habit, habitat, flowering time, fruiting time, fragrance and colour of bark was recorded in the field diary.It has also noticed that which parts of plants is useful for medicine.The medicinal plants were identified photographed and sample specimen was collected for the preparation of herbarium.The status of all the medicinal plants was recorded as abandoned and rare as per healer's perception during the semi structures interview.

Data analyses
Ethnobotanical data were analyzed and summarized by using Microsoft Excel and Ms Word.It has been also indicated that study area, dominating families and other ethnobotanical values of the plants.

RESULTS
Data collected through ethnobotanical survey include plants species with their vernaculars uses.The tribes of Sonebhadra district were using 171 plants belonging to 77 families.The most commonly represented families are Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Asteraceae, Zingiberaceae, Convovulaceae, Solanaceae, Acanthaceae, Rutaceae, Apocynaceae, Moraceae, Euphorbiaceae and Liliaceae (Figure 2).The present report on medicinal plants showed that shrubs made up the highest proportion being represented with herbs (62) Shrubs (38) Trees (54) and Climbers (17).The plant parts used widely to treat human and livestock health problems included root, stem, bark and other parts.The plant parts used by tribes to treat the various ailments in the area were leaves.
Though more than 45 different types of diseases were recorded as human health problems in the district.The medicinal plants were generally used for diarrhea, dysentery, snake bite, skin diseases, cough, stomach pain, and kidney disorder leucorrhoea and pulmonary troubles.
The presence of a large number of ethnomedicinal plant species which indicates the area has a very high diversity of medicinal plants and it is a site for various indigenous knowledge.But many plants have been found rare in many areas such as Gymnema sylvestre, Withania somniera, Raulwolfia serpentina, Plumbago zeylanica, Curiculigo orchoides, Chlorophytum tuberosum, Tinospora cardifolia, Hemidesmus indicus, Acorus calamus, e.t.c.Therefore there is an urgent need for the conservation of these plants.In all these plants, W. somniera, G. sylvestre, C. orchoides are in critical condition (Figure 3).The main cause of rarity of these Uttar Pradesh India

DISCUSSION
The study area is very diversified and rich with strong ethnobotanical traditional among tribes and ethnic communities.Very large number of medicinal plants and their preparations were used for the treatment of various diseases by local herbal medicine man.Thus the study indicates that the ethnic peoples of the area largely depend on the wild medicinal plants for cure of their ailments.Due to the lack of the government health facilities in the district, the peoples are largely dependent on the traditional health care system.This practice would definitely affect the availability of these plants and some of the plants would become threatened in the future.Thus, the area faces over exploitation and over population.Moreover, some factors viz.deforestation, agricultural expansion, overgrazing and frequent drought were observed by the researcher as main cause for the reduction in growth of medicinal plants.The effort to conserve medicinal plants in this district of central India was observed to be very poor.Hence, efforts must be taken to protect these species in this area involving the local communities in preservation and conservation aspects; otherwise there would be the possibility of losing the wealth of ethnomedicinally and globally important plants in future.Although, some traditional practitioners have started to conserve medicinal plants by cultivating at home gardens and their effort was minimal.Moreover, due to lack of interest among the younger generation of tribes as well as their tendency to migrate to cities for lucrative jobs, this wealth of knowledge on ethno medicinal plants of the area may be lost.Hence, proper attention is urgently required to scientifically validate the information gathered on ethno medicinal plants of the area through pharmacological and reverse pharmacological investigations.The local peoples should also aware about the nature.
The survey report presented in Table 1 also emphasizes that the tribal peoples of the area mostly uses leaves of the ethnomedicinal plants as source of medicine.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Map showing the study sites of District Sonebhadra, Eastern U.P.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Chart showing the plants dominating family use in Sonebhadra District.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3.Some endangered ethnomedicinal plants of Sonebhadra district of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Table 1 .
List of Important medicinal plants distributed in Vindhya region of Eastern, Uttar Pradesh.
Kadam RubiaceaeTree Bark and Stem Stem bark paste with mustard oil is messaged over rheumatic affected body parts.

Table 1 .
Cont'd Make the juice of leaves and paste of the fruite.mixwith gingili oil and consume 6 drop at bed time for bronchial asthma.

Table 1 .
Cont'd the leaves paste is externally applied three a day to treat eczema.Extract of root and leaves is used as drug for intestinal problems.is applied externally in case of night blindness.Leaf juices are dropped in ear to relives earache.Leaf is also used for cough.
Leaves and fruited are used in mouth ulcer, Sore throat, and diarrhea.