Ethno-medico-botanical Investigation of Jenu Kuruba Ethnic Group of Karnataka State , India

Background: The study of ethnobotany relating to any tribe is in itself a very intricate or convoluted process. This paper documents the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants that are in used by the Jenu kuruba ethnic group of Karnataka state (South India). Methodology & Results: The present study was done through structured questionnaires in consultations with the tribal practitioners, patients and has resulted in the documentation of 20 medicinal plant species belonging to 17 families and 25 genera. For curing diverse form of ailments, the use of aboveground plant parts was higher (66.59%) than the underground plant parts (21.41%). Of the aboveground plant parts, leaf was used in the majority of cases (9%), followed by fruit (4%). Different underground plant forms such as root, tuber, rhizome, bulb and pseudo-bulb were also found to be in use by the Jenu kuruba tribe as a medicine. Altogether, 21 types of ailments have been reported to be cured by using these 20 medicinal plants species. Perceived efficacy have given. Conclusions: The study thus underlines the potentials of the ethnobotanical research and the need for the documentation of traditional ecological knowledge pertaining to the medicinal plant utilization for the greater benefit of mankind. This paper is based on the field exploration conducted in Karnataka (South India).


Introduction
India is a rich land of traditional or indigenous knowledge.On average, about 85% of the traditional medicines used for primary healthcare are derived from plants in rural India 1 .Herbal medicines have good values in treating various communicable and non-communicable diseases.Traditional medicine and ethnobotanical information play an important role in scientific research, predominantly when the literature and fieldwork data have been properly evaluated.India is one of the twelve megabiodiversity countries of the Globe having rich vegetation with a wide variety of plants with medicinal value.
It is reported that there are more than 17209 different kind of plants out which more than 7918 plants have high medicinal values in India 2 .However, study has proved that over 5796 ecosystem specific species of plants are used by Indian ethnic communalities for healthcare, across the various ecosystems.A current study enumerates around 2400 unique species of plants that are fully documented in terms of their biological properties, actions and drug formulations for a range of health conditions 3 .
Even today, several local and aboriginal communities in the Asian countries meet their basic needs from the products they manufacture and sell based on their traditional knowledge.Rural and ethnic people not only depend on wild plants as sources of food, medicine, fodder and fuel, but have also developed methods of resource management, which may be elementary to the conservation of some of the world's important habitats.Documenting the indigenous knowledge through ethnobotanical studies is imperative for the conservation of biological resources as well as their sustainable utilization 4.

Area of field work done
The rich and diversified flora of India provides a most priceless storehouse of medicinal plants.Given that Indian communities are traditionally rural in nature, an enormous deal of knowledge in this field has been accumulated over the years.In addition, this indigenous knowledge is worth recording.There are no ancient manuscripts analogous to those mentioned above, but scientists are now documenting the various ethno-botanical practices based on plant drugs 5.The immediate objective of this study was to assess the richness of Ethno-medicinal plant species used by the Jenu kuruba ethnic group of Coorg district (Karnataka) of South India.

Historically,
Jenu Kuruba ethnic community has survived on their traditional knowledge base regarding health problems.Traditional medicines are the primary healthcare resources for the ethnic group to shield their health.

Methodology
Coorg or Kodagu district is located in the state of Karnataka-South India.The people of the Coorg are called Kodavas.It is a hilly and heavy rainfall area and habitat for more than seven different types of ethnic groups.The Altitude range from 220-2400 m above the sea level.The annual rainfall in the Coorg district will be somewhere from 450 -1230 mm and temperature range from 5 -27 degrees Centigrade.Most parts of the district are covered with the dry deciduous tropical forest, resulting in subtropical to temperate areas alternating with the evergreen forests (Western Ghats).The area of investigation lies between 75°0' to 79°0' longitude and 21°0' 34° to 0° latitude's are found in the different elevations from 300 m -2,200 MSL in Coorg districts.They survive only in the forest area, which is 10-15 Km away from the nearby main road.Temperature ranges from 18° -25° during March -April in high hill ranges and averages between 20° during December and 28° during April -May of the year.Modern health care facility is still an outlandish in many parts of the district.Nevertheless Government has established few Primary Health Centres (Allopathic) they deficient in many elementary amenities including the Physicians.Our field investigation has made known that only 8.6% of the different ethnic groups have utilized these facilities so far in the studied area.

Ethnobotanical Survey
Fieldwork was conducted in the several hamlets exclusively as a part of the study.More than 250 individual members including common man, patents and traditional healers were interviewed in the studied area.During the stay, their daily activities were closely observed including curing sessions/techniques.The native plants used for the preparation of crude drugs and their administrations along with doses were recorded through 10 field trips by this researcher carried out in 40 days.All commonly used medicinal plants were collected and verified together with the informants during the study.Researchers got both oral and written consent and permission directly from the informants to publish the collected data for wider circulation.Researchers had an agreement with the concerned informants to share the possible benefits if, any new drug/s could discover from these medicinal plants.This agreement was made with the help of a local NGO(Rural Organization for Appropriate Development Trust).Researchers had directly spoken to the tribal informants through their local language.Apart from the survey, we used Case study, Community Norm study and Institutional Ethnography method to elicit more information about their medical pluralism and health seeking behaviour emphasizing on usage of different types of herbal plants for both preventive and curative purposes in their daily life.Plants voucher specimens were matched, deposited 7 in State Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge Herbarium.Plants were identified by a Botanist and crossverified by an Ayreuvedic Physician using relevant floras 8,9 .Data has initially been recorded on cassette tapes (interviews and Focus with appropriate codes) and later transcribed and typed.Other field notes were recorded in notebooks with the due assistance from two Botanists and an Ayurvedic Physician for cross examination.
The medicinal plants are arranged alphabetically, giving information and correct botanical names, family,local name in Kannada (local language) and preparation of dosages, therapeutic uses, and rate of efficacy,and mode of administration.Data have been compared, cross verified using latest available knowledge and reported promptly in this paper to best of our knowledge for the best interest of the society.Like the tribal of other part of the India, Jenu kurubas of Karnataka sate, share a perspective on health and wellness that is also reflected in their culture.The tribals of Karnataka and their health scenario presents a kaleidoscopic mosaic of various communicable and non-communicable disease profile keeping in pace with their socio-economic development.Thus more study is needed to interventions for standardization of traditional herbal formulations/process development of therapeutically active phyto-constituents, isolation and characterization of new therapeutic agents, genomics, bioenhanser and metabolic engineering of these medicinal plants for the possible discovery of new drugs.Also it will be very helpful in the development of new low-cost medicine.A number of projects having multi-disciplinary approach should also be supported for development of new herbal drugs from leads already available in medicinal plants.Based on the locally available herbal wealth, there has colossal potentiality for commercial cultivation of some useful herbs and production of safe green medicines by establishing plant based industries in the tribal rich tract for the health improvement, and conservation of genetic diversity.Today, search for new drugs having prospective therapeutic compounds is of worldwide significance.The knowledge systems upon which policy decisions are based must be both reactive and proactive, relying on indigenous experimentation and innovation, as well as technologies made accessible through external channels, to cope with and adapt to changes.

Conclusion
In the current study, the majority herbal users opined that herbs were efficacious, and in some instances, more efficacious than conventional allopathic medicines.On filed investigation supports our hypothesis that this discernment of efficacy is a major contributing aspect supporting the use of this indigenous healthcare system using medicinal plants only.The increasing body of evidence based research explorations in the form of randomized controlled clinical trials should direct the proper use of herbs and should continue to receive support to validate (or otherwise) efficacy and establish ment of safety.Regrettably, nearly all indigenous Indian medicinal herbs are not well scientifically researched and this points to the burning need for biomedical investigations to evaluate safety profile and efficacy of popular medicinal herbs from India.Further, The poly herbal heritage and wisdom of the tribals available in the tribal tracts provide an immense scope for establishing agro and forest based small cottage industries especially of herbal drug collection, processing and herbal medicine.______________ Figure 2 Settlements of Tribes Figure 4Gardenia turgida

Literacy rate (2001 Census) is very low (24%). Habitually they are living in hamlets made out of bamboo and bark of the other plants. They practise their own judicial system. They believe in magic, sorcery and witchcraft. Neither polygamy
Tribal practitioners are the curators of the tribal society and they have a good knowledge of medicinal plants, diseases and treatment by means of plants only.Jenu kuruba is one of the major ethnic group in Karnataka state-South India.They are concentrated around Mysore Chamaraja nager Coorg, districts of the Karnataka state.In addition, they live in some patches in Kerala state.