Proceeding of National Conference on Environment and Development, 9th and 10th Sept. 2016
Conference Organised by, Dr. B. N. P. Arts, Smt. S. G. G. Com, & Sci. College, Lonavala
ETHNOMEDICINALLY IMPORTANT PLANTS OF FAMILY
RUBIACEAE FROM PUNE DISTRICT (M. S.)
Samudra S. M.
Department of Botany K.G. Kataria College Daund, Pune-413801.
ABSTRACTS:
Rubiaceae is known as coffee family. In India the family finds representation in the form of
70 genera and 274 species. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the Pune district to
get information from rural people and people residing in the hilly region of the district. It is
observed these people have knowledge of local vegetation and its various utilities. In the
present paper some ethnomedicinally important plants of Rubiaceae are described. For each
plant species scientific name, local name, parts used and ethno-medicinal uses are provided.
INTRODUCTION:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that at least 75% human populations rely on
traditional remedies to treat various ailments (Maridas and Britto, 2008). Fossil records revealed that the
plants used by human as traditional medicine date back to middle paleolithic age, approximately 60,000
years ago (Solecki and shanider, 1975). Many infectious diseases are known to be treated with herbal
remedies throughout the history of mankind. Theses drug shows maximum therapeutic and minimum side
effects. Plants even today continue to play a major role in primary health care as therapeutic remedies in
many developing countries.
Ethnobotanical research is in progress throughout the world. Different plants and plant families are studied
and being studied in this respect in different part of the world. Arora (2008) enumerated such a 10 plants of
Apocynaceae family. Some other plant belonging to various families such as Mimosaceae, Lamiaceae,
Caesalpiniaceae, Amaeranthaceae etc. are studied by different ethnobotanists.
The Rubiaceae is a family of about 611 genera including some 13000 species of herb and shrub plants. It is
fifth largest family of flowering plants by number of genera and the fourth or fifth largest number of species.
A few members of Rubiaceae viz. Mytragyna parvifolia (Roxb.) Korth. (Koche et. al., 2008), Rubia
cordifolia ( Kannan et. Al., 2009), Gardenia resinifera Roth, Ixora arborea Roxb. Ex. Smith, Hedyotis affinis
Roem. & Schult. (Reddy et. Al., 2007) are studied ethnobotanically. The common plants from different
regions are always used differentially to cure various ailments. The enumerated here are described variously
in respect to their ethnomedicinal uses by various workers from different part of the world. Prusti and
Behera (2007) described the plant Ixrora pavetta used for chornic wound healing. Ixrora coccinea and
Morinda pubescens is used wound healing (Ayyanar M, Ignacimuthu, 2009). Dadhich et. al (2010) reported
that Mitragyna parvifolia is used for wound healing.
In the present paper, some of the member of Rubiaceae family is studied ethnobotanically from Pune district
of Maharashtra.
STUDY AREA:
The study area, Pune district has unique geographic location in Maharashtra. It is situated at 559 m above
ASL and lies between 17º 54’ to 19º 24’ N latitude and 73º 33’ to 75º 10’ E longitude. The total
geographical area of the district is 15643 sq. km. All the major rivers such as the Bhima, the Ghod, the
Indrayani and the Nira etc. have their sources in the Western Ghat region.The forest area in the district is
distributed among 1866 villages in the district is 171809 hectares which covered 11 percent land of the
district as per the position in 1998-99. Pune district experiences dry climate, hence it shows sparse to scanty
vegetation in its eastern part, where as relatively dense vegetation occurs in its western part. Natural
vegetation appears to be confined to well preserve small pockets of hilly region at Mulshi, Lonavala,
Khandala, Bhimashankar, Bhor and Saswad etc. while the rest of area is covered with open grasslands.
Many medicinal and economically important plant species were found in this region.
http://rutpp.com;
86
ISBN: 978-93-84663-10-0
Proceeding of National Conference on Environment and Development, 9th and 10th Sept. 2016
Conference Organised by, Dr. B. N. P. Arts, Smt. S. G. G. Com, & Sci. College, Lonavala
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Ethnobotanical survey included repeated interviews and visit to the local, Vaidus, Hakim, old men, women,
milkmans etc.in different season for more than two years. Several field trips were conducted in the study
area during 2009-2011. In this period many tribals and village communities were visited to collect the
knowledge of plant utility from them. The collected were cross checked 2 to 3 times with different
informants. Some plant specimens collected during the exploration were preserved in the form of Herbarium
sheets deposited in the Museum of Botany department, Pune University Pune (M.S).Authentic identification
of the collected plants is respect to their Botanical name and family was done by showing plant specimens
and discussion with local well known taxonomists. Here plants are arranged alphabetically including the
information of Botanical names, Family, Local name and lastly Ethno- medicinal uses.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
The survey includes some local plants representing the family Rubiaceae, used to cure various ailments.
Different 8 plants of family are used for the medicinal purpose. Different plant part such as roots leaves
flowers, resins and sometimes whole plant is used for the purpose of medicine. Ixora genus represents its
two species used as a medicine, whereas rest of the genera represents only one species each.
Majority of the plants of family Rubiaceae are used to cure diarrhea and dysentery, fever, wounds,
bronchitis, dyspepsia, joint diseases etc.
Pune district is having rich source of medicinal plants of different families. Due to some developments
progress like road construction, water projects, dams, agriculture and many natural calamities such as flood,
earthquake, rise in temperature etc., the important plant wealth of the district is on the verge of extinction.
So, there is an urgent need of the conservation of such valuable treasure. Very few people knowledge of
medicinal plant utility is amongst us. It is probable that this knowledge may lapse with them within a short
period of time. Therefore it is necessary to collect the information from them and preserve it.
Table I summarizes the data regarding some members of Rubiaceae, including its botanical name, local
name, parts used and claimed medicinal properties.
Sr. Botanical Name
Local Name
Part Used
Ethnomedicinal Uses
No
1
Canthium coromandelicum
Karbit
Fruits
Diarrhoea and Urinary
(Burm. F.) Alston.
problem.
2
Gardenia lucida Roxb.
Dikamali
Resin
Bronchitis, Indigestion,
Dysentry.
3
Hedyotis corymbosa (L) Lamk.
Pittapapda
Whole plant Jaundice, Liver diseases,
Fever, Giddiness.
4
Ixora coccinea Linn.
Lal lokhandi
Leaves,
Diarrhoea
and
flower
dysentery.
5
Ixora pavetta Andrews.
Pandhari
Roots, fruits To stop bleeding during
lokhandi
delivery.
6
Mitragyna parvifolia (Roxb) Korth.
kalam
Leaves,
Cuts, wounds and tumor.
flowers
7
Morinda pubescens J.E.Sm.
Bartondi
Leaves
Diarrhoea, wound and
ulcer.
8
Spermacoce articularis Lf.
Madanghanti
Roots
Joint diseases.
http://rutpp.com;
87
ISBN: 978-93-84663-10-0
Proceeding of National Conference on Environment and Development, 9th and 10th Sept. 2016
Conference Organised by, Dr. B. N. P. Arts, Smt. S. G. G. Com, & Sci. College, Lonavala
REFERENCES:
Arora Anubha (2008) Traditional medicinal plants of Apocynaceae. J. Indian Bot. Soc.Vol. 87(3&4):300301. Bhattacharya, A. 1991. Ethnobotanical observations in the Ladakh region of Northern Jammu and
Kashmir State, India. Economic Botany, 45 (3):305-308.
Deokule S. S. & D. K. Magdum. 1992. Enumeration of Medicinal Plants from Baramati area district Pune,
Maharashtra State. J. Econ. Tax. Bot., Addl. Ser. 10. Pp. 289–299.
Jain, S. K. & De Filipps. 1991. Medicinal Plants of India. Reference Publications Inc. Algonac, Michigan.
Joshi, P. 1989. Herbal drugs in tribal Rajasthan from child birth to childcare. Ethnobotany, 1: 77-87.
Maheshwari, J. K., G. Kunkel, M. M. Bhandari & J. A. Duke. 1992. Ethnobotany in India. Scientific
publishers, Jodhpur - 342 001- India.
Maridass and A. John De Britto (2008)- Origin of plant derived medicine. Ethnobotanical Leaflets 12:373387.
Rastogi, R. P. & B. N. Mehrotra. 1993. Compendium of Indian Medicinal plants, Vol- III (1980-1984).
Central Drug Research Institute, Publication & Information Directorate, New Delhi.
Saklani & S. K. Jain. 1996. Credibility of Folk Claims in Northwestern Himalaya North Estern India.In
Ethnobiology in Human Welfare Ed. S. K. Jain. Pp.136-139.
Schultes & R. Evns. 1962. The role of the ethnobotanist I the search for new medicinal plants Lloydia, 25:
257–266.
Sinha & K. Rajiv. 1996. Ethnobotany, The Renaissance of Traditional Herbal Medicine. INA shree
Publishers, Jaipur.
http://rutpp.com;
88
ISBN: 978-93-84663-10-0