Page 225 - e-Book

percentage of the population reporting use of herb to treat medical illnesses within the past few

years. The people living in countries such as India (83%), Indonesia (88%), Myanmar (85%),
1
Nepal (75%) and Srilanka (65%) have preference for traditional medicine . As recorded by
WHO, 76%- 80% of the people in developing countries rely on local medicinal plants to cure
2
their primary health issues . Many studies have been carried out to endorse the use of
3-8
medicinal edible plants from various districts of West Bengal, India . However, the South
24 Parganas district of West Bengal remained unexplored. Therefore, the present study

focuses on this immensely phyto-diverse region for medicinal plant exploration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area

The South 24 Parganas district is situated in south-east of the state of West Bengal.The

eastern border of the district coincides with the North 24 Parganas district and the Southern
border of the district coincides with the Bay of Bengal. The border of the district is adjacent

to the country Bangladesh. The thirteen of the twenty-nine development blocks in the district
have the largest mangrove forests on earth, the Sundarbans. The main occupation of the

people from this District is agriculture, due to lack of proper irrigation mono-cropped
agriculture is practiced. The scheduled caste comprises 39% of the total population and below

poverty line (B.P.L.) families constitute 37.21% of the population. The total cultivated area of

the district is 4,06,215 hectares. The areas surveyed in the present study shown in Fig.1. The
explored area is moist in nature, with Relative Annual Humidity 71% to 85%. The average

annual rainfall is 1750 mm to 1770 mm, almost uniform throughout the district. The average
0
annual temperature is Maximum 36.3 CMinimum 13.60 C. However, in winter season the
9
0
average temperature is 20-22 C .
Methodology
The study was accomplished with the aim of creating a record of plants available in the South 24

Parganas District used in medicine by local population.Information sheets containing various
data like locality, date of visit, address of informant, age, sex and community or ethnic group

were prepared. The information relating to the medicinal uses of these plants, opinions of the

local people about use of plants in common ailments were noted down thoroughly with the
prepared questionnaire and information were collected in the field record book. In addition to

local names, data about location, status, plant parts used, preparation, types of usage and
other important properties were also gathered.

Identification of the medicinal plant species was carried out by field survey during April 2017-
October 2019 with the help of local knowledgeable people and the members of the study team.

215