Dwivedi Sumeet, Kohli Seema
Madhya Pradesh sustains a very rich traditional medicinal plant wealth and inherits unique plant and animal communities. Guizotia abyssinica (L.f.) Cass. Belonging to family Asteraceae (Compositae), commonly known Niger, black seed (E) Ramtil, Kalatil (H). It is an erect, stout, branched annual herb, grown for its edible oil in many parts of Madhya Pradesh. The objective is to collect scattered scientific information of the herbs used by the tribal and rural people of Madhya Pradesh. Field and survey work was made after carefully planned trips to collect the folk lore uses of the selected plant species by the tribal and rural people of Madhya Pradesh. The claims were gathered by interviewing the tribal and rural people of the study area. The present paper enumerates folk-lore uses of the plant by the tribal and rural people of Madhya Pradesh. It has been found that the plant has been used in the treatment of rheumatism, cough, burn, syphilis and other associated microbial disease. Attempts were made to verify the efficacy of claims with actual beneficiaries, although this was not possible in all cases due to social customs. Hence, it was realised that the selected species have diversified medicinal uses as ascertain by its folk lore.
