Folk medicinal uses and pharmacological studies of few plants of Distt. Goplaganj
*Mohammad Sarfaraz Ahmad and **Manoj Kumar Singh
*Department of Botany, Gopeshwar College, Hathwa, Distt. Goplaganj, Bihar (India) Department of Botany, SMD Degree College, Nechua Jalalpur, Distt. Goplaganj, Bihar (India) *e-mail: mdsarfarazahmad786@gmail.com **email: manojkumarsingh12672@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
District Goplaganj is rich in floristic biodiversity with tremendous medicinal potentialities. This is due to certain changes in physical features and soil texture as this district is located near the tarai of Nepal. This area is situated adjacent to Valmeki nagar, a place of rare vegetation and of very rich biodiversity. The plants in this area made the integral part of the routine health care system of the Gond, Tharu, Nat etc. residing in the small villages and towns. These peoples have immense knowledge about the uses of plants and plant parts. The present paper deals with the folk medicinal uses and pharmacological studies of plants by Gond, Tharu, Nat, Banjara etc. of three blocks named Hathwa, Kuchaikote and Sidhwalia of Goplaganj district of North Bihar. The ethnomedicinal information was gathered through several visits, questionnaire, group discussion with Local people, Vaidyas, Gond, Tharu, Nat, Bnjara etc. The study was carried out during January to December of 2011. This paper records their botanical names, name of the families, english and local names and ailments with the purpose of contributing to the knowledge and preservation of a part of natural cultural heritage and finding out new or rare uses of medicinal plants which could lead to the use of new plant based medicines.