Notable foreign medicinal uses for some plants of Indian tradition

Abstract

Several hundred plants of Indian ethnobotanical heritage also occur in distant foreign lands. The objective was to see if any of the selected 50 plants of traditional medicine in India

are also used, and if so, how, among the indigenous societies of Africa, China, West Indies and Latin America. The analysis was done for seven diseases namely malaria, leprosy, jaundice, diabetes, fertility, cardiac and skin diseases. Over 75 medicinal uses relating to 43 species among the foreign native folk seem new or not widely recorded in Indian ethnomedicinal literature. They provide material for further work for use in India. Over 70 uses relating to 35 species are almost common to Indian and these foreign ethnic groups. This suggests greater credibility for medicinal efficacy of those species. It is discussed that excessive extraction of root and bark drugs can endanger natural populations. The analysis suggests aerial parts of some species as potential substitutes. For example, in India for skin diseases rhizome of <i>Gloriosa</i> <i>superba </i>is used but in Africa leaves and fruits are used. In India, root of <i>Lawsonia inermis </i>is used for jaundice, in Africa, leaf and bark are used. An index to diseases dealt in the paper is provided; this will facilitate reaching the related plant species for further study.