A cross-cultural analysis of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh (India) medicinal plant use

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance

Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) is a predominantly Himalayan state in the north-western part of India. It has three geographically distinct divisions viz., Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, which are immensely rich in their biological and cultural diversity. Medicinal plants are an important element of indigenous medical system of the region. The main goal of the present article is to examine the use of ethnomedicinal plants in three divisions of J&K and to discuss cross-cultural consensus on the use of medicinal plants in these divisions. The article also discusses the gaps in the current state of knowledge on ethnomedicinal plants of the region and gives recommendations for the future studies.

Materials and Methods

Scientific literature on ethnomedicinal field studies conducted in J&K state of India available in the journals, edited books and other scientific databases viz., CAB international, DOAJ, Google Scholar, PubMed, Science direct, SciFinder, Scopus and Web of Science were searched. Only field based ethnomedicinal surveys from last four decades up to December 2013 reporting first hand information on the medicinal plants used to treat human health related ailments by indigenous communities of J&K were included in this study. Venn diagram was used to analyze the cross-cultural consensus on the use of ethnomedicinal plants in the three divisions of J&K.

Results

A total of 948 plant taxa (923 angiosperms, 12 gymnosperms and 13 pteridophytes) belonging to 129 families, 509 genera, 937 species and 11 varieties have so far been reported to have a traditional medicinal use by indigenous communities of J&K. Asteraceae (60 genera, 132 spp.) was the most frequently used family followed by Fabaceae (32 genera, 50 spp.) and Lamiaceae (27 genera, 55 spp.). 514, 415 and 397 medicinal plants were used in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh divisions, respectively. Sixty eight plant taxa were used in all the three divisions, whereas 95 plants were common between Ladakh and Jammu, 127 plants between Ladakh and Kashmir, and 216 plants between Jammu and Kashmir. Maximum numbers of plant taxa were used for treating dermatological problems (321), followed by cold, cough and throat related ailments (250), fever (224), joint and muscle related ailments (215), gastrointestinal disorders (210), urogenital ailments (199), respiratory ailments (151), body pain (135) and gynecological disorders (127).

Conclusions

This is the first study from the J&K state, which has examined the medicinal plant use in three divisions of J&K and discussed the promising medicinal plant species with cross-cultural consensus. The analysis of the data suggested that while large numbers of plants are used medicinally in each division, there is a low interregional consensus and high variation between medicinal plants used in these divisions, which is due to both cultural divergence as well as biological distinctness. The issues related to current status of knowledge on medicinal plants used by indigenous communities of J&K have been discussed and some recommendations have been made for future studies on medicinal plants in J&K region.

Introduction

India, seventh largest country of the world (8.4–37.6°N latitude and 68.7–97.25°E longitude, total area of 32,87,263 km²), ranks sixth among the 12 mega biodiversity centers of the world. India is a country of different traditional culture and tribes, and follow different custom and systems of medicine (Ballabh and Chaurasia, 2009). India has 15 Agroclimatic zones and 17,000–18,000 species of flowering plants of which 6000–7000 are estimated to have medicinal usage in folk and documented systems of medicine, like Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy (NMPB, 2014). Reportedly traditional medicinal systems of India employ large numbers of plant species viz., Ayurveda (2000 spp.), Siddha (1121 spp.), Unani (751 spp.) and Tibetan (337 spp.) (Kala, 2002, Anonymous, 2004). The Himalayan region occupies a special place in the mountain ecosystems of the world and is not only important from the stand point of climate and as a provider of life, giving water to a large part of the Indian subcontinent; but it also harbors a rich variety of flora, fauna and cultural diversity (Singh, 2006). The region is well known for rich Ethnobotanical wealth particularly medicinal plants since ancient time (Ballabh and Chaurasia, 2009).

Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) is a predominantly Himalayan state in the north-western part of India (between 32°17′N–36°58′N latitude and 73°26′E–80°30′E longitude) (Singh, 1995) and has an area of 222,236 km² (North to South 640 km, East to West 480 km) (FSI, 2011). It is bigger in size than combined geographical area of nearby Himalayan countries of Bhutan and Nepal. It shares border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south, and international border with China in the north and east, whereas Line of Control separates it from Pakistan in the west and northwest. The state is mainly mountainous, except for a short belt adjoining the Punjab plains and the valley of Kashmir and it consists of three distinct geographic units or divisions, viz., Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh (Fig. 1). The state possesses great altitudinal variation, diverse geological formations and different climatic zones viz., subtropical, tropical, temperate, alpine and cold desert, resulting in the immense diversity of its flora. As shown in Fig. 1, some portion of the state is under Pakistani (green part; 78,114 km²) and Chinese (yellow part; 42,735 km²) control. The present review covers the portion of J&K, which is currently administered by India (blue part; 101,388 km²). J&K state is bestowed with a variety of natural resources including numerous important medicinal plants, which have attracted considerable global attention from time immemorial. According to Singh et al. (1999), there are 4439 species (1220 genera and 189 families) of Angiosperms in the state of J&K. A number of primitive indigenous societies exist in J&K state of India viz., Gujjars, Bakarwals, Gaddis, Ladakhis, Zanskaris, Padris, Lahulis, Kinnars and Indo-tibetans with little technological development (MOEF, 1988). Nomadic communities such as Gujjars, Bakarwals and Gaddis keep on foraging over large stretches of land (MOEF, 1988). These communities live in harmony with nature and have immense knowledge regarding medicinal uses of the plants growing in the region.

The geographic, climatic, vegetative, demographic and cultural characteristics of these three divisions of J&K are extremely different from each other (Table 1). During past four decades many field studies recording medicinal plants used by different indigenous communities of the region have been conducted by various workers, where studies are mainly concentrated in one particular division or part of J&K only. But we still do not know how much similarity or dissimilarity is there between patterns of usage of medicinal plants in different divisions of J&K. According to Heinrich et al. (1998), most studies on medicinal plants focus on the role of these plants within one culture, i.e., one ethnic group and little emphasis has been given to the comparison of medicinal plant species in various cultures. Although cross-cultural analysis between plants used in various cultures in different parts of the world has been done by many workers (Heinrich et al., 1998, Leonti et al., 2006, Leonti et al., 2009, Leonti et al., 2010, Lardos and Heinrich, 2013), but in context of India and particularly J&K, such studies are still lacking. Therefore, the main goal of the present article is to examine the use of ethnomedicinal plants in three divisions of J&K and to discuss cross-cultural consensus on the use of medicinal plants in these divisions. The article also discusses the gaps in the current state of knowledge on ethnomedicinal plants of the region and gives recommendations for the future studies.