QUANTITATIVE APPROACH ON MEDICINAL PLANT USE DATA BY FOUR INDIGENOUS TRIBES OF WAYANAD DISTRICT, KERALA, INDIA

The knowledge on the richness of plant diversity in any area and the intensity of associations and dependence of the indigenous communities on that plant wealth is very vital for better utilisation of biodiversity. The present study was an attempt to record the quantitative data regarding medicinal plant use by four predominant tribes– Kattunaikkan, Mullakuruman, Adiyan and Kuruchiyar- of Wayanad District, Kerala, India. Quantitative indices such as Relative Frequency of Citation and Informant Consensus were used to understand the preferences and consensus existing among the informants regarding medicinal plant use. A total of 565 user reports were collected from the fifteen informants belonging to the four socio-cultural groups during the study period. Mention of each use of a species with respect to a disease was treated as a separate event and considered as a user report. User reports regarding 165 species from 63 different families were recorded. Among the total 165 species cited 58 species with Relative Frequency of Citation value equal to or higher than 0.2 were enumerated in this study. Of the 165 species quoted, 49 diseases categories were sorted out and the Informant Consensus Factor regarding each disease category and the most quoted species was recorded.