Background

From time immemorial, man has been interested in trying to control diseases. The history of medicine thus contributes review of the evolution of man and human knowledge during the 20th century and made medicine more complex. Jaundice is a symptom rather than a disease and characterized by yellowness of the skin, tissues and secretions (like urine), due to deposition of bile pigments in the blood. Many herbalists treated jaundice with indigenous herbs, which were free from side effects and kept this information as patent medicine.

Adilabad district is situated between 77°47’ and 80°0’ of the eastern longitudes and 18°40’ and 19°56’ of the northern latitudes. It is bounded on North by Yeotmal and Chanda districts of Maharashtra, on the East by Chanda district, on the South by Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts and on the West by Nanded district of Maharashtra state. It ranks second among all the districts in the state in forest area occupying about 44.5 per cent (7218.86 Sq km). The district has a total tribal population of 416,511 (16.74%) as per 2001 census, Gonds, Kolams, Koyas, Lambadas, Mannes, Naikpods, Pradhans, Thoties and Yerukalas are the main tribes. Though there are publications on jaundice in different parts of India (Singh and Prakash, 1998; Borthakur, 2004; Badjugar and Patil, 2008; Binu, 2009; Rao et al., 2011; Naidu and Reddi, 2014; Bhattacharyya et al., 2015; Wagh and Jain, 2016) exclusive studies on the tribes of Adilabad district were not observed resulting the present study.

1 Materials and Methods

Extensive ethnobotanical explorations were conducted in 42 tribal pockets with good forest cover in Adilabad district during 2006-2009. Knowledgeable informants including the vaidyas and elderly persons (42) of the tribal communities were interviewed and obtained information on the plants used for curing jaundice. The data were verified in different villages among the interviewers showing the same plant sample and even with same informants on different occasions. The voucher specimens were deposited in the Herbarium of the Department of Botany (BDH), Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India.

2 Enumeration

The plants are enumerated and arranged in an alphabetical order with botanical name along with vernacular name, voucher number, part used, method, mode and duration of treatment (Table 1). Plants and practices marked with an asterisk (*) are considered to be new or less known.

3 Results and Discussion

The paper deals with 35 species of plants covering 33 genera and 26 families used by the tribes of Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh, for curing jaundice. Euphorbiaceae is the dominant family with 5 species followed by Rubiaceae (3 spp), Cucurbitaceae, Convolvulaceae and Nyctaginaceae (each 2 spp) and others with one species each. Habit-wise analysis showed the dominance of herbs with 21 species followed by shrubs (6 spp), trees and climbers (4 spp each). Plant part-wise analysis showed the maximum utilization of leaf in 14 practices followed by whole plant, stem bark and fruit (each 5 practices); tuber and root (each 2) and rhizome and stem in one practice each. They are administered either in the form of extract, juice, powder or decoction along with either milk, cow milk, butter milk, curd, honey, sugar, sugar candy or banana. Of the 35 practices 28 involve single plant each followed by 5 involving two plants, and one involving three and four plants each.

Boerhavia erecta and 22 practices were found to be new or less known (Jain, 1991; Kirtikar and Basu, 2003). Plants used for similar purpose in different parts of India and Bangladesh are Evolvulus alsinoides, Phyllanthus amarus, Portulaca oleracea, Ricinus communis by the Yanadi, Nakkala, Irula, Yerukala, Sugali/Lambadi and Chenchu tribes of Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh (Vedavathy et al., 1997); Ricinus communis by the tribes of Uttar Pradesh (Singh and Prakash, 1998); Boerhavia diffusa, Phyllanthus amarus, Ricinus communis by the Mullu kuruma tribe of Wayanad district, Kerala (Silja et al., 2008); Boerhavia diffusa, Eclipta prostrata, Oxalis corniculata Curculigo orchioides, Eclipta prostrata, Lawsonia inermis, Momordica charantia by the Bhills, Gavits, Kokanis, Mavachis, Padvis, Tadvis, Valvis, Vasaves tribes of Jalgaon district, Maharashtra (Badgujar and Patil, 2008); Momordica charantia by the Kandha, Ganda and Sabara tribes of Kalahandi district, Orissa (Panda and Padhy, 2008); Phyllanthus amarus, Ricinus communis by the Malappandaram, Urali, Mala-arayan, Ulladan, Malavedan, Malakurava tribes of Pathanamthitta district of Kerala (Binu, 2009); Phyllanthus amarus, Ricinus communis, Tinospora cordifolia by the people of 11 districts of Karnataka (Shiddamallayya et al., 2010); Boerhavia diffusa, Eclipta prostrata, Tinospora cordifolia by the Chakma, Marma, Tripura tribes of Chittagong Hill tracts of Bangladesh (Biswas et al., 2010); Boerhavia diffusa, by the Gond, Kol, Baiga, Panica, Khairwar, Manjhi, Mawasi and Agaria tribes of Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh (Shukla et al., 2010); Eclipta prostrata, Phyllanthus amarus in Pudukottai district, Tamil Nadu (Natarajan et al., 2010); Lawsonia inermis, Phyllanthus amarus, Tinospora cordifolia by the folklore of Chikmagalur (Prakasha et al., 2010) and Gulbarga districts (Ghatapanadi et al., 2011) of Karnataka; Acalypha indica, Boerhavia diffusa, Canthium parviflorum, Curculigo orchioides, Eclipta prostrata, Lawsonia inermis, Phyllanthus amarus, Ricinus communis, Tinospora cordifolia, Woodfordia fruticosa by the Gadaba, Khond, Porja and Savara primitive tribal groups of North-Coastal Andhra Pradesh (Rao et al., 2011); Boerhavia diffusa, Eclipta prostrata, Evolvulus alsinoides, Lawsonia inermis, Phyllanthus amarus, Polycarpaea corymbosa, Ricinus communis, Tribulus terrestris, Woodfordia fruticosa by the Savara, Jatapu, Konda dora, Gadaba, Kuttiya, Yerukula tribes of Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh (Naidu and Reddi, 2014); Lawsonia inermis, Oxalis corniculata, Tinospora cordifolia by the Bhumij, Garh, Goala, Kalindi, Kaul, Kharia, Kurmi, Munda, Orang, Oriya, Santhal, Sundi, Telanga tea tribes of Nagaon district, Assam (Bhattacharyya et al., 2015) and Boerhavia diffusa, Phyllanthus amarus, Ricinus communis, Tinospora cordifolia, Woodfordia fruticosa by the Bhil, Bhilala and Pataya tribes of Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh (Wagh and Jain, 2016). Eclipta prostrata, Phyllanthus amarus, Ricinus communis and Tinospora cordifloia are the most widely used plants followed by Boerhavia diffusa, Lawsonia inermis, and Momordica charantia in different parts of India and Bangladesh. The present study establishes the repeated application of some plants for jaundice in tribal system of medicine in India. Thus, the modern systems of medicine have their roots, in one way or other, from the folk uses or tribal system of medicine.

Author’s contributions

SSN collected the data required for this paper, and TVVSR organized and wrote this paper. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the tribes of Adilabad district for sharing their valuable knowledge on jaundice and help during field work.

References

Badjugar S.B., and Patil M.B., 2008, Ethnomedicines for jaundice used in tribal areas of North Maharashtra, Natural Products Radiance, 7: 79-81

Bhattacharyya R., Medhi K.K., and Borkataki S., 2015, Ethno-medicinal plants used against jaundice by tea tribes of Nagaon district, Assam, Ethnobotany, 27: 36-42

Binu S., 2009, Medicinal plants used for treating jaundice (Hepatitis) by the tribals in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, Journal of Non-Timber Forest Products, 16: 327-330

Biswas A., Bari M.A., Roy M., and Bhadra S.K., 2010, Inherited pharmaceutical knowledge of tribal people in the Chittagong Hill tracts, Bangladesh, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 9: 77-89

Ghatapanadi S.R., Johnson N., and Rajasab A.H., 2011, Documentation of folk knowledge on medicinal plants of Gulbarga district, Karnataka, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 10: 349-353

Jain S.K., 1991, Dictionary of Indian Folk–Medicine and Ethnobotany, Deep Publications, New Delhi

Kirtikar K.R., and Basu B.D., 2003, Indian Medicinal Plants, Second Edition in Eleven Volumes, Oriental Enterprises, Dehradun, Uttaranchal

Naidu B.V.A.R., and Reddi T.V.V.S., 2014, Phytotherapy for jaundice in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany, 38: 148-151

Natarajan D., Balaguru B., Nagamurugan N., Soosairaj S., and Natarajan E., 2010, Ethno-medico-botanical survey in Malligainatham village, Kandarvakottai Taluk, Pudukottai district, Tamil Nadu, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 9: 768-774

Panda T., and Padhy R.N., 2008, Ethnomedicinal plants used by the tribes in Kalahandi district of Orissa, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 7: 242-249

Prakasha H.M., Krishnappa M., Krishnamurthy Y.L., and Poornima S.V., 2010, Folkmedicine of NR Pura taluk in Chikmagalur district of Karnataka, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 9: 55-60

Rao J.K., Prasanthi S., and Reddi T.V.V.S., 2011, Ethnomedicine for jaundice used by the tribal groups of North-Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Journal of Tropical Medicinal Plants, 12: 107-114

Shiddamallayya N., Azra Yasmeen and Gopakumar K., 2010, Hundred common forest medicinal plants of Karnataka in primary healthcare, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 9: 90-95

Shukla A.N., Sharad Srivastava and Rawat A.K.S., 2010, An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants of Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 9: 191-202

Silja V.P., Samitha Varma K., and Mohanan K.V., 2008, Ethnomedicinal plant knowledge of the Mullu kuruma tribe of Wayanad district, Kerala, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 7: 604-612

Singh K.K., and Prakash A., 1998, Native plant remedies for liver disorders among the tribals of Uttar Pradesh, Ethnobotany, 10: 136-137

Vedavathy S., Sudhakar A., and Mrdula V., 1997, Tribal medicinal plants of Chittoor, Ancient Science of Life, XVI: 307-331

Wagh V.V., and Jain A.K., 2016, Ethnomedicine for curing jaundice in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, India, Ethnobotany, 28: 53-59