Medicinal Plants from Vettangudi Water Bird Sanctuary in Sivagangai District of Tamil Nadu, Southern India

Most of the people depending on traditional medicine to meet their primary healthcare needs. Documenting the indigenous knowledge through ethnobotanical studies is important for the conservation of biological resources as well as their sustainable utilization. It is also necessary to collect the information about the knowledge of traditional medicines before it is permanently lost. Having all these facts in mind, the present study was carried out to document the plants used as medicine by the people inhabiting around the Vettangudi Water Bird Sanctuary of Sivagangai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The field survey was conducted in two villages situated near to Vettangudi Water Bird Sanctuary. The medicinal uses of 40 angiospermic plant species belonging to 36 genera of 24 families for various diseases and ailments were recorded by this study. The people inhabiting in the study area used 45 herbal therapies prepared from 40 plants to treat 27 different illnesses. Regarding the plant parts used, leaf was the mostly used plant part (51.16%) and extract was found as mostly followed mode (42.28%) to treat a particular disease. Attention should be made on proper exploitation and utilization of these medicinally important plant species. Keywords: Medicinal plants, Vettangudi Water Bird Sanctuary, Sivagangai district, Tamil Nadu