Ethnobotanical Observations on Plants Used in Northeastern India

Abstract

Sixty plants of ethnobotanical importance for food and medicine were collected during fieldwork in northeastern India. Out of these, eight medicinal plant species were selected for comparative study. For these, the ethnobotanical data based on some important references, and personal observations are given in tabular form. Each table gives data on the plant part used, the disease concerned and the names of states where such uses are prevalent. To facilitate comparison, several related diseases were classified under broad general categories, such as, skin diseases, chest complaints and gastrointestinal disorders. A comparison with some well known literature on medicinal herbs showed that many new uses had come to light in recent years; these are noted.