Determination of use value and informant consensus factor on ethnobotanic knowledge about wild legumes used by natives of Wayanad district, Kerala

Abstract

The present work is aimed to document the traditional knowledge about the various usages of leguminous plants (Fabaceae), by tribals of Wayanad district and its nearer places such as Vanimel and Vilangad villages of Kozhikkode district, Kerala. Ethnobotanical surveys/ interviews/ discussions were carried out in few randomly selected tribal hamlets for the data collection. Among these visits the plants used by tribal communities Paniya and Kattunaikka were focused for documentation. This study reports the data of 80 plants from the family Fabaceae. This report also observed that the tribal communities were deeply depending on various wild legumes for making infrastructures, agricultural utilities, making food/ fuel/ timber/manure and they solve their health issues to a large extent also by using some wild legume species. Among the eighty species, fifty were used in various medicinal preparations and thirty species were used for dietary needs in combination or alone. At the same time major group of plants are unable to demarcate between food and medicine. Use Value analysis shows that the tree legume species Tamarindus indica is relatively more important with 64 use reports (UV 0.98). Analysis of Informant consensus factor reveals that the homogeneity of knowledge is more for the plants with medicinal properties (Fic 0.97); whereas maximum heterogeneity (Fic 0.92) was found about agricultural utilities of plants. According to the results of DMR analysis Dalbergia latifolia ranked first, so that this species is getting more exploited, because it is highly preferable for all five categories studied under DMR analysis. Moreover the present documentation of ethnic knowledge about wild legumes is an attempt to serve as indigenous information for future sustainable utilization and conservation.