SURVEY OF DIVERSITY AND STATUS OF UNANI MEDICINAL PLANTS IN SALEM FOREST DIVISION, SALEM DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU

K. Venkatesan*, R. Murugeswaran, Mohd Asif, Noor Zaheer Ahmed, Chandra Shekhar Sanwal

The Unani system of medicine pioneered in Greece and was developed by Arabs in to an elaborate medical science based on the frame work of teaching of Buqrat (Hippocrates) and Jalinoos (Galen). The principal source of drugs in the Unani system of medicine are plant, animal and minerals. Historically plants have played an important role in medicine. Through observation and experimentation, human beings have learnt that plants play a vital role in promoting health and well-being. The present study deals to explore the biodiversity and status of the medicinal plants in the geologist's paradise, surrounded by hills and the landscape having geographical area of the 5, 20, 530 hectares. For the same an ethnobotanical survey was conducted in the Salem forest division, Salem District, Tamil Nadu, India from 27th January 2020 to 15th February 2020. Through this ethnobotanical survey programme 111 Unani medicinal plants species belonging to 51 families, 105 genera were collected, documented and analyzed for their diversity status. In which 58 common species, 22 rare species, 8 sporadic and 23 commonly cultivated species were collected. Additionally, on the basis of the life form, the study revealed that 43 tree, 33 herbs, 19 shrubs, 11 climbers, 2 creeping herb, 1 parasitic climber, 1 twiner and 1 straggler species were recorded during the study. This disclose the biodiversity of that area in relation to the rare and endangered plants.