Quantitative Ethnobotanical Assessment of Medicinal Plants Used for Skin Diseases in Damoh District, Madhya Pradesh, India
Devanand Maurya *
Department of Botany, Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India and B.T. Institute of Excellence, Makronia, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470004, India.
Chayan Adhikari
Department of Botany, Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India.
Akash Kumar
Department of Botany, Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India.
Dinesh Malasiya
Department of Botany, Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India.
Amit Jugnu Bishwas
Department of Botany, Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh 470003, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Skin disorders represent a significant global health concern and often adversely affect human quality of life. This study was conducted to document traditional knowledge and the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of skin diseases among local communities in the study area. Data were collected using open-ended and semi-structured questionnaires. The significance, utility, and extent of ethnomedicinal practices were evaluated using quantitative indices such as the Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Use Value (UV), Frequency of Citation (FC), and Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC). A total of 71 ethnomedicinal plant species belonging to 67 genera and 40 families were recorded from 98 informants. The families Fabaceae, Asteraceae, and Euphorbiaceae were the most frequently cited. The UV and RFC values of the recorded plant species ranged from 0.03 to 0.69 and 0.04 to 0.98, respectively. These quantitative findings indicate that ethnobotanical knowledge may serve as a valuable foundation for the future development of novel nutraceutical products.
Keywords: Skin disease, frequency of citation, use value, informant consensus factor