Documenting traditional knowledge of the Trans-Himalaya: ethnic uses of plants in Drass valley, Ladakh

Le résumé fourni par la source

BACKGROUND: In Indian Trans-Himalaya, Drass is one of the coldest high-altitude areas which remain cut off from rest of the world for many months. In this geographically isolated region, a treasure trove of ethnobotanical knowledge has accumulated through generations of interaction between the local residents and rich floristic diversity, resulting in a profound understanding of the plant uses in nutritional, medicinal, cultural and ritual contexts. Thus, aim of the study was to gather, analyse and document the indigenous knowledge of plant utilization of this unique region. METHODS: Data on ethnomedicinal and ethnobotanical knowledge was obtained through semi-structured interviews using a pre-prepared questionnaire. A total of 60 informants were interviewed in local languages (Balti, Sheena and Pahadi) among three ethnic communities. Use value (UV), fidelity level (FL%) and Jaccard's similarity index (JI%) were employed to quantitatively analyse the data. RESULTS: We documented 121 plant species, of which 35 had medicinal properties and 86 species were used for other ethnobotanical purposes. Most of the plant species used in ethnomedicines was herbaceous. Leaves were the most used plant part to treat a variety of human diseases. The formulations were administered orally in most cases, while few were applied externally. The FL% of the plant species ranged from 12 to 100%, and the highest UV was found for Rumex patentia. Ethnic uses not previously known were recorded for 13 plant species. CONCLUSIONS: We documented diversity of plant species with traditional uses in the study region. These plant species were used as medicine as well as for other ethnobotanical purposes. Our study recommends further phytochemical investigations and pharmacological validations of 13 plant species that were documented for the first time for their ethnomedicinal uses. Also the plants used as food, fodder, firewood can be utilized for further studies to ensure nutritional and energy security with due benefit sharing among local stakeholders.

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