ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDIES ON MEDICINAL PLANTS OF BANASTHALI REGION OF TONK DISTRICT, RAJASTHAN (INDIA)

Abstract

Ethnobotany is the study of the interactions and relationships between plants and people over time and space. If plants did not exist, human life would not be possible. The present study is an attempt to explore the traditional indigenous knowledge of the local rural people from Banasthali region located in district of Tonk Rajasthan state. The study explored 44 plants species belonging to 29 families and 41 genera used to prepare various remedies and their modes of preparations are decoction, juice, extract, and powder. The information regarding their use was collected from local rural people through semi structured interviews. A total of 60 key informants
(women 65% and men 35%) were consulted and interviewed to collect the information. Plants were grouped under 12 categories of aliments and informant’s consensus factor about usage of medicinal plants ranges from 0.72 to 0.97 with an average value of 0.91. The study reveals that 16 plantspecies show high fidelity level. These results will contribute to prepare further advance research in medicines