ISSN 2360-7947
The sale of botanicals, either as concoctions or single plant specimens, has become common in the shopping centers of temple towns of Nallamalais and Yerramalais of Eastern Ghats of Kurnool district. A study was carried out form June 2011 to December 2011. The indigenous knowledge of the road side herbal vendors and the plants used for medicinal purpose were collected through questioners and personal interviews during field trips in pilgrimage towns of Srisailam.Mahanadi and Ahobilam. First hand information on ethnomedicinal uses of medicinal plants was gathered from the herbal vendors.The survey showed that the road side vendors used 32 species of plants distributed in 21 genera belonging to 25 families to treat various disease and health conditions. The documented botanicals were mostly used to cure skin diseases, wounds, antidotes and for rheumatism. In this study the mostly dominant families are Fabaceae(3), Asclepiadaceae, Caesalpinaceae and Rubiaceae, each with 2 species and stems were mostly frequently used for the treatment of disease accounting for 31% of the medicines sold. The study showed that many people in temple towns still continue to depend on medicinal plants for primary heath care. The study has brought to light some interesting data on medicinal plants which form a potential source of information for new biodynamic compounds of therapeutic value in photochemical researchers.
Keywords: Botanicals, Floristic Diversity, Eastern ghats, Nallamalais,Yerramalais.