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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Ethnopharmacological relevance: Interest in the medicinal pteridophytes for their traditional utility and associated pharmacological research is intensifying all over the world in the past few decades. This paper enumerated medicinal pteridophytes used by people in an unexplored and biodiversity rich Western Ghats in Southern India. Study aims to identify the pteridophytes used in medicinal therapy by the local people. This ethnobotanical survey was carried out during 2019-2020 among the people in Kodagu region in the Western Ghats, India. The information was obtained through interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire with local people. The quantitative analysis like, use value, family use value, informant’s consensus factor, fidelity level, relative frequency citation, and informants agreement ratio were calculated for the quantitative study of the ethnobotanical data. A total of 33 Pteridophyte species were enumerated which were belongs to 19 families and among them Pteridaceae and Polypodiaceae were dominant. The detailed information on parts used, method of preparation, mode of application, and ailments treated were recorded. Leaves were predominantly used plant part, and a decoction is the most used herbal preparation method. Cyathea gigantea and Dicranopteris linearis are given the highest Use Value (UV) of 1.5 due to their diverse medicinal uses. The present study stresses the need to protect the indigenous knowledge of unexplored pteridophytes. As a result of the survey, Dryanria quercifolia, Adiantum phillippense and Lygodium flexiosum were recommended for further ethnopharmacological studies as these plants were recorded with high Use value, Informant’s Agreement Ratio, Relative Frequency Citation and Fidelity level values.