Medicinal trees from home gardens of urban areas in Madurai District of Tamil Nadu, Southern India

Abstract

Abstract. Shanmugam S, Jeyaprabakaran G, Rajendran K. 2020. Medicinal trees from home gardens of urban areas in Madurai District of Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Asian J Ethnobiol 3: 10-15. Home gardens provide a diverse and stable supply of socio-economic products. They serve as conservation spots of many valuable and rare medicinal plants. Present research work aims to elucidate the medicinally important trees growing in home gardens and their role in the health care of the inhabitants living in four urban areas of Madurai District, Tamil Nadu, India. Data was collected by interviewing 20 informants (14 male and 6 female) regarding the ethnomedicinal uses of plants prescribed to treat several ailments in total. We recorded 63 medicinal remedies prepared from 54 tree species belonging to 52 genera and 27 families to treat 35 illnesses. It was found that the most dominant family was Apocynaceae (5 species). Leaf was the most used plant part (28.56%), and using raw material (20.64%) was the most way to treat a particular disease. Phytochemical and pharmacological values of these medicinally essential trees should be tested. Awareness programs should also encourage people to grow many more valuable plants in their home gardens.