Abstract :
The present paper deals with the folklore herbs used in the traditional practices in the area of villages over the bank of Varada river of Haveri district, Karnataka, India to cure various ailments. Now the modern world is realizing the importance of folklore practice and these practitioners do have valuable information about the medicinal plants and their uses since from generations for the cure of many diseases. This survey was carried out during 2009-2010 in view of documenting traditional knowledge as Haveri district is an under explored area having mixed vegetation and is blessed with rich diversity of herbal medicinal plants and well known for the traditional practices for fractures, skin disorders, nervine disorders etc. In an ethno-botanical exploration of this area traditional practitioners were documented for the identification of the plants, local name, parts used, method of preparation of the medicine, mode of administration, duration, and their parameters for the diagnosis of different diseases. During the ethno-medical documentation it was found that totally 68 different plants are used in treating 34 different disorders by 33 folklore practitioners. Among them it was revealed that 19 therapeutic remedies are having classical references in Ayurveda like use of Abrus precatorius Linn in skin disorders, Plumbago zeylanica Linn in piles, Mimosa pudica in uterine disorders, Cissus quadrangularis Linn in fractures etc and the rest are considered as anubhuta prayoga. Further research is needed to conserve and develop some selected species of folklore herbs and to preserve the knowledge of indigenous communities.
Keyword :
Ailments, Varada river, Anubhuta prayoga.