Diversity of medicinal plants of District Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Shazia Bi
Department of Botany, G.F. College Shahjahanpur-242001 (India) email: shazia.amu@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
A survey of the District Shahjahanpur was carried out from ethnomedicinal point of view. The survey also included the district's suburban areas. Villagers, medicene men, Hakeems, Vaids and elderly people were consulted for medicinal attributes given to a particular species encountered in the District. An effort was made to record the local name of the collected plant specimen. The present study resulted in the collection of 65 species of angiosperms, which belong to diverse families and are used in the treatment of a variety of ailments such as gastrointestinal disorders, kidney stones, leprosy and other skin afflictions, leprosy, diabetes, liver problems, for healing of wounds and even cancer. The statements from the aforesaid persons were recorded carefully in the field diary and the collected plant specimens were subjected to taxonomic identification with the help of various floras. Some of the medicinal plants encountered during the present investigation comprised of Datura stramonium, Achyranthes aspera. Blumea mollis, Solanum nigrum, Ricinus communis Centella asiatica, Clerodendron viscosum, Oxalis corniculata, Aegle marnelos, Clitoria ternatea and Cuscuta reflexa. The plants with medicinal attributes have been dealt with under various families arranged in an alphabetical order irrespective of their descent.