An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Jaipur District and Adjoining Area.

Abstract

A comprehensive study was conducted in the Jaipur district to explore the traditional medicinal plants used by the local community. The main objective was to identify and document these plants, along with the associated ethnobotanical knowledge. Various methods, such as field walks, interviews, and direct observations, were employed to collect relevant data. The information was then crosschecked and verified through group discussions and the informant consensus method. Both descriptive statistics and quantitative ethnobotanical methods were used to analyze the data. In total, 106 species from 98 genera and 46 families were documented based on their medicinal values according to local claims. It was found that most of these plants are collected from the wild by the local users. The study also revealed the presence of 347 species from 261 genera and 93 families of flowering plants. This indicates the transfer of traditional medicinal knowledge from generation to generation. However, it was reported that the wild medicinal plants are facing threats due to increased use and unsustainable harvesting practices targeting leaves, roots, and barks. This calls for immediate collaborative efforts to strike a balance between the availability of medicinal plants in the wild and their utilization by the community. Additionally, the study aimed to prioritize the most effective medicinal plants as identified by the local people for potential pharmacological testing.