Documentation of Ethnobotanical Knowledge among the people of Bodinayakanur

An ethnobotanical plant survey was conducted to explore the medicinal plant knowledge and their use in the study area. The exploration of the ethnomedicinal survey includes 62 plant species belonging to 54 genera of 38 families practiced by the traditional healers/ vaidayars of Bodinayakanur, Theni district, Tamil Nadu. The traditional knowledge of people having reliable ethnomedicinal expertise in the drug's formulation using available plants and its dosage practiced were documented. The suitable data were collected through questionnaires as well as informal personal interviews during the field trips in the study area. These data were documented from Jan 2022 to Dec 2022. The collected medicinal plants were used to cure skin ailments, jaundice, diabetes, headache, stomachache, wounds, and kidney ailments. The curative plants used by the people are systematized sequentially, by their plant name, family name, nearby name(s), part(s) utilized, method of treatment, and their relating illness were documented. Collected results are described with quantitative analysis using use value and informant consensus factor. Andrographis paniculata (Burn. f.) wall was reported with a UV of 0.98 and Kidney stone ailment has highest ICF value of 0.96. The conservation of ethnomedicinal practices as well as the plants are needed in order to cope with the predominant illness. This has made us to revert the people's life back to the natural way of healing practice for the health enrichment in the future.