Notable foreign medicinal uses for some plants of Indian tradition

Abstract

Several hundred plants of Indi an ethnobotanical heritage also occur in di stant foreign lands. The objective was to see if any of the selected 50 plants of traditional medicine in India are also used, and if so, how, among the indigenous societies of Africa, China, West Indies and Latin America. The analysis was done for seven diseases namely malari a, leprosy, jaundice, diabetes, fertility, cardiac and skin di seases. Over 75 medicinal uses relating to 43 species among the foreign native folk seem new or not widely recorded in Indian ethnomedicinal literature. They provide material for further work for use in India. Over 70 uses relating to 35 species are almost common to Indian and these foreign ethnic groups. Thi s suggests greater credibility for medicinal efficacy of those species. It is di scussed that excessive extraction of root and bark drugs can endanger natural populations. The analysis suggests aerial parts of some species as potential substitutes. For example, in India for skin di seases rhi zome of Gloriosa superba is used but in Africa leaves and fruit s are used. In India, root o f Lawsonia inermis is used for j aundice, in Africa, leaf and bark are used. An index to diseases dealt in the paper is provided; thi s will facilitate reaching the related plant species for further study.