Exploration of Kani Tribal Botanical Knowledge in Agasthiayamalai Biosphere Reserve - South India

Since traditional herbal remedies are based on ancestral knowledge and empiric experiences of tribes, an ethnomedicinal survey was undertaken to collect information appeared to be useful for the research on medicinal plants of the Agasthiayamalai Biosphere Reserve in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu during October 2005- December 2006. The ancestral traditional knowledge of Kani people including reliable hakims, physicians in five settlements (Tirunelveli zones) the native plants used for the preparation of drugs and methods of their administration along with doses were recorded, collected through questionnaire as well as informal personal interviews during field trips. The exploration of ethno medicinal survey of medicinal utilization among Kani hakims 76 species of plants distributed in 64 genera belonging to 43 families have been reported. The information was collected and documented in database management systems using Visual Basic 6.0 as front end and M.S Access 7.0 as back end. The practical knowledge of plants in medicines of Kani tribe reveals that they are capable of treating various diseases. Exploitation and documentation of traditional medicine is essential for the future. Such study will be useful to understand the role and importance of the Tribal Botanical Knowledge (TBK) in the conservation of medicinal plants of this area