Vol 5(4) July-August 2006 315 Introduction Maharashtra is the abode of a number of ethnic groups and diverse cultures. Descendents of nearly all ethnic groups have preserved a considerable part of their traditional knowledge through word of mouth. In the recent past, much attention has been paid to record folk medicines through ethnobotanical field studies and consequently a large number of reports on medicinal plants used by various tribal and rural populations of Maharashtra have been published 1-5 . The districts bordering north boundary of Maharashtra State, viz. Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar constitute the North Maharashtra region 6 . Literature review revealed that extensive ethnobotanical studies on this region have been done 7-10 but documentation of abortifacient plants used in this area has not been done. Explorer: Research Article Herbal abortifacients used in North Maharashtra R G Mali 1 *, J C Hundiwale 1 , R S Gavit 1 , D A Patil 2 and K S Patil 3 1 Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry Smt. S. S. Patil College of Pharmacy, Chopda-425 107, Maharashtra, India 2 P. G. Department of Botany, S. S. V. P. S’s L. K. Dr P. R. Ghogrey Science College Dhule- 424 005, Maharashtra 3 Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry K. L. E. S’s College of Pharmacy, Belgaum-590 010, Maharashtra *Correspondent author, address, Sawatawadi, Maliwada, Amalner, Dist. Jalgaon, Maharashtra E-mail: ravigmali@yahoo.co.in, Phone: 02587-222678 Received 5 August 2005; Accepted 19 June 2006 Abstract Present study was carried out to document plant-based preparations used as abortifacient in three district of North Maharashtra. Data were collected by interviewing local traditional medicinemen, tribals as well as rural people of different villages. A total of twenty claims were obtained. Information on local names, plant parts and different forms of preparations used were also recorded and are reported in the present paper. Keywords: Abortifacient, Medicinal plants, Ethnomedicine, North Maharashtra. IPC code; Int. cl. 7 — A61 K 35/78, A61P 15/04. Hence, the plants used for inducing abortion are reported in present paper. Methodology An ethnomedicinal survey was conducted in three districts of North Maharashtra, viz. Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar. These districts are inhabited by Bhil, Tadvi, Pawara, Kokani, and other tribes. Regular visits were made to rural areas of each district during the period 2002-2004. The information was also collected from traditional healers locally known as Vaidyas (males) or Daiyas (females) and tribal people who are having knowledge of herbal medicine for abortion. The fresh specimens of the plants were collected and identified with the help of Flora of Dhule and Nandurbar districts 11 and deposited in the Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, College of Pharmacy, Chopda. The botanical name, family, local name, plant parts used and method to induce abortion are given in Table 1. Conclusion In the present paper 20 angiospermic species belonging to 19 genera and 14 families collected from three districts of North Maharashtra have been reported. However, there are some unexplored and under explored regions which need further attention and documentation. In recent years, ethnomedicinal studies received much attention as this brings to light the numerous little known and unknown medicinal virtues especially of plant origin. They obviously deserve evaluation on modern scientific lines such as phytochemical analysis, biological screening, pharmacological investigation and clinical trials. Natural Product Radiance, Vol. 5(4), 2006, pp. 315-318 Rhynchosia minima