Traditional Uses and Sustainable Collection of Ethnobotanicals by Aboriginal Communities of the Achanakmaar Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve of India

In the due course of study, focus was prearranged on the traditional use of trees, herbs and shrubs (ethnobotanicals) which are little or unknown to modern societies. Through questionnaire and interviews, the present study was attempted to collect the information about the people who still live in traditional world. A total 40 tree species, 94 herbs including tubers, grasses, climbers and 13 shrubs utilize by aboriginal communities of Achanakmaar Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve (AABR), were renowned/ explored for different utilization pattern. The most important tree species collected from the forests and nearby village areas by the local people are Madhuca indica, Buchanania lanzan, Diospyrus melanoxylon, Mangifera indica, Shorea robusta and Terminalia tomentosa etc. Similarly, herbs collected are Eclipta alba, Panicum antidotale, Smithia conferta, Phyla nodiflora, Dioscorea bulbifera, Curculigo orchioides, Oxalis corniculata, Portulaca oleracea, Echinochloa colona, Solanum nodiflorum, Achyranthus aspera, Leucas aspera, Corchorus trilloularis, Cassia tora etc. The most common reported shrubs of these areas are Phoenix sylvestris, Randia dumetorum, Zizipus zilopyrus and Lantana camara. The reported botanicals have variety of uses like vegetable, fruit, furniture, religious use, rituals use, and for handloom preparation. Besides the consumption value, forest also source of subsistence for this hidden and marginalized society of the world. The current study confirmed that there is a vital necessity for documentation of traditional knowledge associated to the Bagia aboriginals and others insubstantial cultural inheritance regarding traditional plant uses. Further, it can provide a baseline ethnobotanicals utilization pattern data that may be guiding parameter for the prioritization and conservation of these natural resources along with bio-prospecting indigenous traditional knowledge.