Ethnomedicine for bites by the tribals of Khammam district,Andhra Pradesh

摘要

The paper deals with 55 species'of plants covering 52 genera and 37 families used for curing bites by the tribals of Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh. Asclepiadaceae, Solanaceae are the dominant families followed by Fabaceae, Cucurbitaceae and others. Habit-wise analysis showed the dominance of herbs followed by trees, shrubs and climbers. Morphological analysis showed maximum utilization of root followed by leaf, seed, stem bark, flower, fruit and gum. Of the 55 species, 17 are exclusively used for scorpion bite, 15 for snake bite, 10 for dog bite, 3 for insect bite, 2 for rat bite and one for honey bee bite. Crotalaria labumifolia, Leucas aspera, Merremia aegyptia and 37 practices were found to be new or less known.