Ethnomedicine & Human Welfare V 3

Primitive people of all ages derived knowledge of medicinal plants from the very beginning through trial and error. From time immemorial, diseases have been a part of human life and they sometimes have threatened the existence of human race on the face of the earth. It is realized that the traditional knowledge base system is gradually sparkling as a source of knowledge base for scientific endeavour to study and to make sustainable use of biodiversity which has an immense importance for biological science at present. This entailed the use of herbal medicine as healthcare and as medicinal treatment of various diseases. It is well known fact that the rural areas, particularly the areas inhabited by the tribal people and socio-economically backward communities are the major source of traditional knowledge about the uses of various plants. A large number of plant species are used in ethnomedicine for the treatment of different diseases.