Underutilised Plants of Tripura used as Spices and Ethnomedicinal Purpose by Manipuri Community

An ethnobotanical study focused on medicinal value of plants was carried out among the Manipuri community people of Tripura, North Eastern Region of India with aims to document the aromatic wild as well as cultivated spices and traditional knowledge of the medicinal plants used in various ailments. The information was based on normal interview, discussion and conversation with local kavirajs, maibas and elderly people of Manipuri community. In this study, a total of 27 plant species in 20 genera belonging to 14 families were described which have been used in the treatment of around 30 different diseases. Lamiaceae, Amaryllidaceae and Apiaceae are the most frequently used family in context to the number of species used by the Manipuri Community.

Ethnobotanical studies are the complex interaction between (uses of) plants and cultures. The focal point of ethnobotany is on how plants have been used, supervised and recognized in human societies. Tribal people are the ecosystem people who live in harmony with the nature and maintain a close relationship between man and environment (Shah and Joshi 1971). All cultures have traditions of folkloric medicine that include the use of plants and other ethnopharmacological products. Ancient tribal people have used plants to cure a variety of ailments but they keep no records and the information is mainly passed on verbally from generation to generation. Even though incredible progress in synthetic drugs and medicine, a large number of people still believe on herbal drugs with hope of safety and efficacy (Sandberg and Corrigan 2001;Peter 2004;Salim et al. 2008). The survey conducted by World Health Organization (WHO), revealed the fact that as many as 80% of the world's people depend on traditional medicine f or t h e i r p r i m a r y health care need (Azaizeh et al. 2003) due to the considerable economic benefits in the development of indigenous medicines and in the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of several diseases. A variety of higher plants are well-known for drug therapy in conventional medicine (Martini-Bettolo1980;Farnsworth et al. 1985;Akerele 1993;Aniyam 1995;Martin 1995;Ghorbani et al. 2006;Shanmugasundaram et al. 2011). Phyto-resources used as a remedy of various diseases were exercised by our ancestors, a process which must have started by trial and error but with the dawn of modern civilization such traditional knowledge about medicinal plants are broad-casted very scarcely from one generation to other or transmitted in fewer significant fractions (Kuhnlein and Receveur 1996;Sheng-Ji 2001;Ghosh et al. 2014). The precious wisdom is therefore remains an unwritten asset and requires conservation and documentation. Several ethno-medicinal surveys were conducted in Tripura by different researchers (Shiland Dutta Choudhury, 2009;Majumdar et al. 2006;Majumdar and Datta 2007;Das et al. 2009;Das and Dutta Choudhury 2010;Sen et al. 2011;Das and Dutta Choudhury 2012;Das et al. 2014;Sharma et al. 2014;Chakraborty and Paul 2014).
Tripura is third smallest hilly State of India, lies between 22 0 56′N to 24 0 32′N latitude and between 90 0 09′E to 92 0 20′E longitudes covering an area of 10,491 sq.km and inhabited by the Tribal of Tibeto-Burman stock with as many as 19 different tribal communities (Deb Varman 1986). Tripura is also represented by other communities like Manipuri and Bengali since king dynasty in the state. This state is subdivided into 8 districts namely: North Tripura,West Tripura, South Tripura, Dhalai, Khowai, Unakoti, Sipahijala and Gomati. The climate of Tripura is characterized by intermediate temperature and highly humid atmosphere. During summer (April-May), maximum temperature reaches 38°C with relative humidity ranging from 50-75% while during monsoon it remains over 85%. The ethological diversity of this state reflects not only the sociological and cultural aspects but also reveals unique traditional food habit and rural herbal therapy (Mukharjee 2005). Many of these ethno-botanical species and their traditional knowledge of uses associated with health care system are to be explored scientifically. Several ethno-botanical studies (Deb 1968) in the state have documented various healing plants with folk recipes. But no survey is done among the people of Manipuri community of Tripura widely. Hence, the present survey and investigation has been formulated to identify and document the ethnomedicinal plants used by Manipuri community of Tripura.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
According to the Census-2011, total population of Manipuri community people of this state is nearly 25,000. The Manipuri people of Tripura are grouped into Meiteis and Bishnupriyas. Their settlements are scattered in Tripura, although they are mostly concentrated in the West Tripura district and North Tripura district. Most of them rely on forest products and medicinal plants for sustaining their life ). From ancient period, people made use of plants for their livelihood and medicare. Out of which some plants they use are cultivated while others grow in wild conditions. The Manipuri people depend predominantly on plants for food, medicine, agricultural implements, art and crafts and for other requirements.
Exhaustive field survey has been undertaken in different villages of Tripura covering all the seasons, specially, during January to May of the year 2014 -2017 for gathering information on each and every species specially the less known aromatic spices used meticulously by Manipuri community people of Tripura and also useful in herbal medicine among them. The information on medico-botanical aspects were collected by questionnaires from the traditional practioners, Kavirajs, Maibas and elderly people of Manipuri community. The plants were collected from the study area, dried, preserved and identified consulting authentic floristic literatures like Flora of Tripura (Deb 1983), Flora of Assam (Kangilal and Dev 1939) and Flora of British-India (Hooker 1882). Cross examination of the species was done consulting with Dr. Nalini Kanta Chakraborty, Retired Professor, Department of Botany, Maharaja Bir Bikram College, Agartala. Finally, voucher specimen was prepared following conventional methods (Jain and Rao 1977), deposited in the departmental herbarium.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Taxonomic enumeration of twenty-seven plant species, collected from different districts of Tripura, has been done in the present study. Some of these species are used as traditional spice crops whereas some others are used as folk medicine. These plants were found to be commonly used by the Manipuri Community of Tripura for treatment of different disease in their own traditional method.  The most common part of plant utilized by Manipuri community is leaf followed by rhizome, bulb and so on (Fig. 1). The majority utilized plant parts for the preparation of folk medicine is leaf which is 33.3%, then rhizome 14.8%, leaf and bulb 7.4% and 3.7% in all other forms like tender leaf, tender shoot, fruit and bark, leaf and young stalk, young leaf and fruit, leaf and dried inflorescence, leaf and rhizome, young twig and inflorescence, tender leaf and rhizome, young shoot and inflorescence and whole plant except flower. The study showed that leaf, rhizome, bulb and leafy young plant parts have been used in formulation of folk medicine is more than 50% for the cure of diseases. Aerial parts of the plant (leaf, flower, fruit, and seed) can be used without uprooting the plant, which is an outstanding way to conserve them.