New Study: Javadhu Hills, Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu, India

We have added a new study on medicinal plants used by indigenous Malayali tribes in the Javadhu Hills of the Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu, India.

Of the 148 plant species species, the most frequently cited were Moringa oleifera and Syzygium cumini. Several new species were added to the record from previous studies of the Javadhu Hills region, including Litsea deccanensis, Phoebe paniculata, Commiphora caudata, and others.

The survey was conducted over 113 days between April 2022 and November 2022. Researchers interviewed local traditional healers across 20 field visits to 11 villages in the area. Selected informants knew how to utilize plants for medicine, either because they were experienced traditional healers themselves or because healing was a family tradition.

As always, any reported medicinal uses require scientific investigation. For more information about preparations and the parts of the plants used, please see the original publication.

This research was published in Heliyon in April of 2023.

Citation

• Silambarasan R, Sasidharan S, Nair J H, Kumar S N, R A, Nair AS, Selavinayagam KT. A multivariate and quantitative assessment of medicinal plants used by the indigenous Malayali tribes in the Javadhu hills of Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu, India. Heliyon. 2023 Apr 18;9(5):e15607. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15607. PMID: 37305490; PMCID: PMC10256831.