Indigenous knowledge of Mangar Community on medicinal uses of ethnomedicinal plants in South Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya

Abstract

Ethnobotanical knowledge connects biodiversity, cultural heritage, and drug discovery. A household survey (n = 50) among the Mangar community of Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya, and documented 46 wild medicinal species across 33 families. Quantitative indices, such as relative frequency of citation (RFC), use value (UV), informant consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), and Cultural Importance Index (CI) were used to prioritize culturally important species. The major portion of the harvested species was leaves (26%), while ―crushed‖ was the major preparation method (23%). The highest RFC and UV values, 0.70 and 0.94, for Drymaria cordata and Ocimum tenuiflorum, respectively, reflect the ―hub‖ potential of these species for use in household therapy. Conversely, 31 use-reports (∼48%) revealed perfect fidelity, indicating the existence of a set of single-ailment ‗specialist‘ plant species. The overlap of FL with ICF revealed the existence of four ailment clusters, namely bone fracture, internal and external wounds, respiratory, and fever, wherein perfect specialists correlated with high consensus (ICF ≥ 0.90). The hierarchical cluster analysis using Jaccard similarity index revealed the organized and non-random nature of traditional knowledge, wherein multipurpose species formed the core, while ailment-specific species formed the periphery. Although some of the culturally important species, such as Aloe vera and Swertia chirayita, are pharmacologically supported, species like Viscum articulatum, Bergenia ciliata, and Astilbe rivularis need regionspecific ethnopharmacological evaluation and conservation assessment under the Mangar ethnomedicinal system. These findings emphasize the community‘s rich biocultural heritage and the need for its documentation, conservation, and quantitative analysis.