European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

A SURVEY ON TRADITIONAL PLANT-HEALERS OF TERAI REGION OF UTTAR PRADESH

Shail Pande, Reema Upadhyay and Tulika Mishra*

ABSTRACT

From time immemorial, plants are source of our medicine as well as nutrition as described in our Vedas, Nighantus and other ancient literature. Apart from being sources of various metabolites like carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and vitamins, they produce various phytochemicals that are used in our primary healthcare. Alkaloids, sterols, terpenes, essential oils, antioxidants that are produced by plants are exploited by the pharmaceutical industries in producing various drugs for cure of different ailments. The correct identification of biofunctional compounds is required for optimization and established the pharmacognosy of the species. We should explore their pharmacological properties without harming the valuable species. So, they can proliferate on mother Earth and continuous to heal us. Terai region of Uttar Pradesh has rich plant biodiversity including a large no. of medicinal plants. Present study is based on questionnaire and field survey of Gorakhpur division, which is located in Terai region of Uttar Pradesh. During our survey, we collected very useful medicinal plants and also recorded the information about its ethnobotanical and traditional uses provided by the local informants.

Keywords: Medicinal Plants, Pharmaceutical, Biofunctional compound, Ayurveda, Terai Region.