Traditional Healing of Bone Fracture Complications Through Wild Plants in Hamirpur, India

Abstract

Wild plants have a medicinal sense that can be applied to treat different ailments of the human body worldwide. They have been assessed for pharmacological, pharmaceutical, nutritional and ecological significance. In the present work, an effort has been made to conduct an ethnobotanical survey in the Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh from 2012 to 2019. Key informants were identified in the preliminary study and information was collected by conducting semi-structured and open interviews. The focus was primarily on the wild plant the residents used to treat bones and related complications for ages. The local people employed 23 main ethnomedicinal plant species belonging to 15 families for the same purpose. The Citation Frequency (CF) and Medicinal Importance Value (MIV) of wild plants were evaluated. It varied from 0.68 to 10.63 and 1.16 to 42.2, respectively. The highest CF was observed for Cissus quadrangularis (10.63) and lowest for Peristrophe bicalyculata (0.68), whereas the highest (42.12) MIV was calculated for Cissus quadrangularis and lowest (1.16) for Cleome viscosa. The present study found that Cissus quadrangularis, Tinospora cordifolia, Celastrus paniculata, Litsea glutinosa, Cuscuta reflexa, Soymida febrifuga and Osyris arborea are traditionally important ethno-medicinal plants for the treatment of bone problems, such as hematoma formation, inflammation and repair.