Medicinal Flora of Nallamalais, Eastern Ghats India

Nallamalais, one of the 234 Centers of Plant Diversity of the world are a group of moderately steep hills in the Eastern Ghats of India, located in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States between latitudes 15 20' - 16 30'N and longitudes 78 30'-80 10'E. They cover an area of 7640 sq. km. Forests are of moist deciduous, dry deciduous and scrub type. Fifteen years of intensive field work during 2000-2015 in the forests of Nallamalais along with perusal of secondary data resulted in identification of 501 plant taxa with medicinal values. The information is primarily gathered from the primitive tribes, Chenchus and the non-aboriginal and migrated Lambadis, migrated Yerukula and Yanadis. These 501 taxa represent 499 species of vascular plants, of which dicots represent 465, monocots 30 and pteridophytes 4 species. A total of 78 diseases were known to be cured, treated and prevented with the usage of these medicinal plant resources. It is found that 30% of the material is obtained from root material and 25% from leaves. The study advocated an integrated approach of linking local communities with NGO's and Governmental organisations for medicinal plant resource conservation in Nallamalais.