Ethnomedicinal uses of honey of stingless bee by <i>Nepali</i> community of Darjeeling foothills of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Therapeutic use of animal products is an age old and widespread cross-cultural practice. However, there is a general lack of interest about ethnopharmaceutical practices among the busy modern people. Surveys were carried out during 2010 to 2015 for identifying the use of honey of stingless bee, <em>Lepidotrigona arcifera </em>(Cockerell) in the ethnomedicine of <em>Nepali</em> community. Open ended structured questionnaires were used to acquire knowledge about the use of honey for medicinal purposes from medicine men and old resource persons. As much as 18 different ailments have been found to be cured traditionally by the use of <em>Lepidotrigona</em> honey either alone or in combination with other ingredients. Some of the plant parts, cow urine, milk, etc. were also found to be used to prepare concoction with the honey. Diseases treated with the honey singly or in combination with other natural products ranged from simple cold and cough to dreaded disease like cancer. However, clinical trials are further required to confirm the potentiality of honey to treat these diseases. Utilizing the traditional knowledge of use of stingless bee honey will help in harnessing the knowledge of natural resources of medicine all the same domesticating and conserving sub-Himalayan stingless bee diversity.