Journal of Traditional Medicine & Clinical Naturopathy
Open Access

Medicinal plants; Badami; Uses

The study area Badami taluk is located in Bagalkot District of Karnataka state. It has a long back history for its architectural beauty of Menabasadhi, Agasthathirta Mahakoot with rich source of medicinal plants. This taluk is situated between 15.92°N 75.68°E latitude. The study area has diverse type of vegetation like arid habitat, shruby and thorny vegetation and rich in diversity of plants with medicinal values which are being explored by traditional practitioners of different locality in this taluk.

Plants are the principle source of raw materials for plant based medicines since ancient times from the period of Charaka and Sushruta.

Now a day’s traditional herbal medicine are receiving great importance in health care throughout the world. This traditional knowledge is handed down orally or in the form of scripts from one generation to the other through trial and error methods. In India most rural population and tribal community rely on traditional medicines for their health care needs.

Data sheets were prepared at different villages of the taluk were traditional practitioners are practicing, with village name and its locality, date of visit, address of the patients with their age, sex and the treatment they are getting from the medicinal plants.

The vernacular names of the plant and the part used for the treatment with questioners with the patient and traditional practitioners of particular locality. Frequent field survey in prominent villages like Mahakoot, Adagal, Nandikeshwa, Pattadakal, Belur, Hosoor, Yaragoppa, Kendur, Naganathkolla, etc. Plant species were identified with flora and the preliminary data was recorded by observing the fresh plants in fields.

Some plants species used to treat human ailments in Badami taluk of Bagalkot district is shown in Table 1 [1-7].

Table 1: Details about medicinal plants and their use to treat various ailments.

The survey indicates that the study area has plenty of medicinal plants to treat a wide spectrum of human ailments. The study concluded that even though the accessibility of western medicine for simple and complicated diseases is available many people still relay on medicinal plants at least for treatment of some simple disease such as cold, cough, fever, headache, poison, snake bites, skin disease and tooth infection. It is necessary to acquire and preserve these medicinal plants by propped documentation and identification.