Survey and observation was carried out in remote villages in east coast districts of Pudukkottai and Ramanathapuram in Tamilnadu, India. Information revealed that there are many plant species traditionally used by the villagers. From these 50 species belonging to 40 genera and 26 families of medicinally important plants were identified and their uses were described in this article. Among them, Azadirachta indica, Jatropha curcas, Vitex negundo, Tamarindus indica, Tridax procumbens, Moringa oleifera, Erythrina indica and Sesbania grandiflora are some of the most useful medicinal plants in their day to day life.

Herbal medicines have been very helpful in providing excellent lead for synthesizing better drugs for the treatment of different human ailments. In ancient Indian literature mention regarding the process for utilization of plants in treatment of various human diseases are abundant. The present paper carries about preliminary contribution to the uses of medicinal plants by the tribal and rural people of West Midnapore District. It has been estimated that eighty per cent of the world’s population still rely upon the traditional medicinal system for their primary health care. The demand for herbal products is again gradually increasing due to their safer use. In all, 72 medicinal plants were collected and documented. The plants were identified botanically, arranged alphabetically along with their family names, local names, method of application of their parts and medicinal importance.

Laves of Salvadora oleoides (Kharo Jal), Calotropis procera (Aak) and Withania somnifera (Asgandh) are used by local people for medicinal uses. These are found to be associated with 18, 17 and 19 fungal forms respectively; out of which only five fungal species Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Fusarium equiseri, Drechslera tetramer and Trichoderma viride are found with all three medicinal plants.

The Bankura, Purulia and Midnapore districts are mostly inhabited by the tribals. About 25 plant species are used by the tribals and locals as medicine for different ailments, such as habitual abortion, ashma, diabetes, migraine, dyspepsia, gout, dysentery, snake bite, filaria etc. Commercial pressure has reached these areas during the past decade and illegal export of valuable species is reported for the folk potentiality. Over 32 medicinal uses relating to 24 general among the native folk seem new. Hence, an attempt has been made to explore all these medicinal uses.

Medicinal plant species analysed with respect to total number of species in that family revealed that out of 87 families, 40 are high use families. These need further investigation into their species so as to screen them for their possible therapeutic value.

The undivided Kalahandi district was a grand repository of vegetable wealth of which medicinal plants were plentiful. Of the 62 tribes inhabiting in Orissa, about 54 tribes are present in this region since they are utilising various forest products to meet the necessities of life sustenance. However, in course of time the forest cover has been reduced mostly due to over exploitation of woody elements. One of the important aspects of tribal lifestyle is utilisation of indigenous medicinal plants to cure various ailments. Due to depletion of medicinal plants there is also shrinkage of this knowledge among them. Hence, a floristic exploration of medicinal plants has been launched upon during 1997-1999. This has yielded 229 angiospermic species under 197 genera belonging to 76 families. These have been properly identified and are preserved in the form of herbarium specimens in the P.G. Department of Botany, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. Their nomenclatures have been updated. In the present checklist, the species are arranged alphabetically with corresponding families and local Oriya names. Different parts used to cure diseases have also been appended. Need for the conservation of rare and less known medicinal plants has been highlighted.

Frequent ethnobotanical surveys were conducted between August 2004 to June 2006 in different tribal villages of Ratlam district. Results of these surveys indicated that 21 plant species are used in ethnoveterinary medicines by the tribal people of the district. Botanical names, followed by family, local names and the ethnoveterinary uses have been provided.

Mahabaleshwar region has a rich diversity of medicinal plants, as demonstrated in present survey with local persons, traditional healers as well as scientific verification through literature. The investigation includes 61 species from this region, belonging to 27 families which are used in the treatment of fever, skin diseases, digestive disorders, cardiovascular and respiratory complaints as well as in rheumatism and also as nervine tonic. These plants identified are potential source for new bioactive compounds of therapeutic value in Indian system of medicine.

Sri Lankamalleswara Wild Life Sanctuary (also famous as Lankamala hills and forest) is situated in the Lankamalai hill ranges are about 30 kms from Kadapa. The Lankamalleswara wild life sanctuary is rich with rare and endangered medicinal plants. The most predominant medicinal plant species found in this region are Pterocarpus marsupium, Pterocarpus santalinus and Santalum album along with the several rare medicinal plants which are essentially required in preparing ayurveda, sidda and Unani medicine. The present study emphasizes the wealth of medicinal plants in Sri Lankamalleswara Wild Life Sanctuary of Y.S.R. District in A.P., India

The genus Monothecium is reported as an addition to the Flora of Eastern Ghats. A brief description, nomenclature, ecology and other relevant notes are provided for identification of the taxon in the field.

Ethnobotanical survey covering Kalimpong hill subdivision (altitude to 3660 m) in the eastern Himalayan region of India was carried out by the present author during 2004-2006, following standard methods. The herbarium specimens were identified at CAL. Twelve species of flowering plants, widely used in the folk-medicine of this region, are highlighted in this paper. They have a broad spectrum of medicinal uses. New or less known healing applications of these plants were recorded. Such plants are mostly utilized by the Bhutias, Lepchas and Nepalis, the major ethnic communities of Kalimpong hills, bonded together by Nepali language. For each species, family, local names, life-form, altitude range and distribution, flowering and fruiting months, detailed uses, threat status of IUCN and annotations etc are given. Owing to over-exploitation, a number of medicinal and/or economically lucrative species are already under different categories of threat. Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz, has almost disappeared from this area as a result of ruthless exploitation during last twenty years. Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet ssp. indicum, a potent diuretic plant, is now ―extinct‖ in the wild in Kalimpong and adjoining Darjeeling hills, albeit it was abundant there about two decades ago. Several other medicinally important species heavily exploited in the past are: Aconitum bisma (Buch.-Ham.) Rap., Arisaema consanguinatum Schott, Hedychium spicatum Sm., Panax pseudoginseng Wall., Piper longum L., Stephania glabra (Roxb.) Miers etc and consequently they are now threatened. Biopiracy of such important medicinal plants often takes place from this region which must be strictly prohibited. In general, the underground plant parts e.g. root/stem tuber, rhizome, root etc have remarkably high medicinal value. Such plants of Zingiberaceae, Costaceae, Araceae, Araliaceae, Menispermaceae, Ranunculaceae and many other families provide the real medical support in everyday life in the mountainous remote villages where the qualified doctor to people ratio is 1:4892. Its fascinating to see that when the era of ―telemedicine‖ is coming up and probably arrived at the most modern doors, the people living in far-flung Himalayan villages are still healed at nature‘s own dispensary. The information given in this paper will be useful for backing conservation strategies, and facilitate better understanding of phytotherapy research.

A  list   of   17  species  in   11 genera   of  family  Scrophulariaceae   from  Kashmir Himalaya   (including   Kashmir   and   Ladakh)   has   been   consolidated   for   their  • medicinal  values  after  critical  study  of  their  use  by  the  local  people  and  after scrutiny  of  the  relevant   literature.

The study has been carried out in different pockets of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu inhabited by the valaiyans. Nineteen plant species belonging to 13 families used by them to treat various ailments like diabetes, rheumatism, leucorrhoea, lumbago etc, have been enumerated as per botanical names along with family name, local (Valaiyan) name, parts of the plant used, method of administration, dosage etc.

Miscellaneous  uses of twenty two plants from villages as well as tribal areas of Nashik District of Maharashtra have been reported in this paper.

The present communication deals with the medicinal plants of seven sericultural gardens of Dehra Dun district of Uttarakhand. In all 75 medicinal plants are enumerated along with their family, brief description and medicinal uses.

                               The present study was designed to investigate the anti-oxidant activity of the synthesized heterocyclic compounds containing substituted nitro-phenols bearing phthalyl substituted benzimidazoles. The synthesized compounds were characterized by FTIR, PMR spectral data and elemental analysis. Purity of the compounds was tested by running TLC. Anti-oxidant activity of methanolic solution of synthesized compounds at different concentration was determined by Reducing power assay and Hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity.

A survey of medicinal plants prescribed by the local medicine men and traditional healers in Porbandar districts of Gujarat leads to interesting therapeutic applications of 31 plant species belonging to 27 families for migraine. The preparation of ethnomedicinal recipes, mode of administration and uses of plant parts are gives. These taxa appear to be promising from view point of drug evaluation.

The paper provides an account of 166 species under 136 genera and 67 families of medicinal angiosperms of Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Local names,flowering & fruiting periods, localities of occurrence and medicinal uses are given.

The paper provides information regarding 37 medicinal plants used in 52 traditional treatment for different ailments by the urban population of Gangtok,Sikkim. The mode of preparation of medicines which are not available in previous literature, doses for the treatment of the diseases, vernacular names of the medicinal plants and distribution etc. are also given in the paper.

Plant extracts have been used since time immemorial to protect human life from several diseases as well as improve his health and life-style. With the advent of latest technology several compounds known as antioxidants have been characterized from plants which play a protective role against diseases. In recent years, there is a tremendous interest in the possible role of nutrition in prevention of disease. In this context, antioxidants especially derived from Indian medicinal plants and herbal drugs derived from them, require special attention. In biological systems oxygen gives rise to a large number of free radicals and other reactive species collectively known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Antioxidant can combat the deleterious effect of ROS by forming a strong defense system and prevent several diseases caused by free radicals.. Certain chemicals which were thought to be useless for the human body, for instance terpenoids, flavonoids are now valuable to human diet as they possess antioxidant properties. This article is aimed at projecting the importance of medicinal plant molecules used as antioxidants and their role in the prevention of different disorders on human health.

In the present work, 73 rare and endangered plant taxa of Gujarat are enumerated. These plants possess medicinal value. During the last several years, some plant species have become rare and endangered in Gujarat due to overexploitation and destructive development made by human beings.

Assam is indicated as store house of medicinal and aromatic plants from time immemorial. It is estimated that more than 3500 species of plants have medicinal properties to cure and prevent different diseases. Assam has a strong heritage of traditional system of medicine, which has been providing health care to both rural and urban population. Today in the rural and ramote areas, the most of the people providing treatment using medicine preparated from plants available in their locality also. Due to over exploitation and human pressure some of these valuable plant species are leading to extinct from our store house. It requires proper identification, plantation and conservation of such plants. An exploration work was done on floristic diversity of North Guwahati hill range and its adjoining areas during1998 to 2004. It is located on the north bank of the river Brahmaputra (Kamrup and Darrang districts) in central Assam. The work resulted in 736 species of angiosperms belonging to 363 genera under 127 families. Out of these species, there are about 211 species which are used by local inhabitants for medicinal purposes, and among them 25 plant species under 21 families have been enumerated for the treatment of piles. Their updated scientific name, local names, family and dose regimes are also provided.

Ethnobotanical studies were conducted in Melpattu Reserve Forest, Javvadhu hills of Eastern Ghats, Tiruvannamalai district during 1995-97 and recorded the information from the resourceful healers of the tribal community. The present study enumerates ethno-medicinal uses of 63 species.

The present paper provides an account of the medicinal plants wealth of North Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The study has revealed the occurrence of 509 species of medicinal plants belonging to 369 genera and 114 families. Botanical names, common / vernacular names, family, flowering & fruiting period, habit and medicinal uses are provided. Such an study will not only be useful in sustainable utilization of resources, but also in taxonomic enumeration of flora of Uttar Pradesh, which is yet to be published.

Desmodium tortuosum (Sw.) DC. an exotic species, collected at the Shervarayan hills is described and illustrated.

Lalitpur is one of the medicinal plant rich districts of Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. The results of medico-botanical surveys conducted in the district during 2007-2008 are presented. A total of 100 species of medicinal plants of commercial value found wild in the region are listed in tabular form. Information about the Sanskrit name of the plants, their life form, parts used, availability and distribution in the region are also provided.

Two hundred and twelve wetland species under 149 genera and 56 families have been recorded from Bakhira Birds Sanctuary, which is the first floristic record from this Sanctuary situated in Sant Kabir Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Out of 212 species, 35 species are purely aquatic, 29 are semi-aquatic and remaining are terrestrial but grow in marshy conditions in various parts of the Sanctuary. 92 species are found to be used medicinally by local people. 90 species are also used for many other purposes like food, fodder and various commercial uses. The correct scien-tific names, local names, ecological notes, uses and medicinal importance have been provided in present communication.

The present communication deals with the observation on medicinal plants of Chandrapur area of Kamrup district of Assam. In this preliminary survey altogether 74 species of 67 genera from 42 families are recorded medicinal. The medicinal importance of the plants with their part used are enumerated in this paper.

In the present work 41 plant taxa were observed for practical work on joint disorders, i.e. rheumatism, sciatica, lumbago, gout, arthritis and backache. It is observed that the plants used as direct to the human bodies and get complete relief in pain, means the herbal treatment carried out by the rural and tribal people are cheap and elixir.

The present paper reports some plants used by the tribals of Mahadeo hills against various inflammatory responses like rheumatism, arthritis, joint pains, hydrocoel, piles, conjunctivitis and fever.

The forest areas are endowed with plants having useful medicinal properties very well recognized by village and tribal people. Generally the village folk even now cure their ailments by treatments from such plants having medicinal value. This paper highlights some medicinal plants being exploited by the people of the area and by traditional healers in the Bilaspur & Mandi districts of H.P. For each plant its botanical name, local name, English name and part used are described. Data are based on personal survey, observation and discussion with villagers.