International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Impact Factor (2012): 3.358 Volume 3 Issue 12, December 2014 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Floristic Composition and Ethnobotanical Observation in Angul-Talcher Mining Area, Odisha, India Gyanranjan Mahalik 1 , Sandeep Kumar Nayak 2 , Ashirbad Mohapatra 3 , Kunja Bihari Satapathy 4 1, 2 , 4 P.G. Department of Botany, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751004, Odisha, India 3 Sri Jayadev College of Education and Technology, Naharkanta, Bhubaneswar-752101, Odisha, India Head, P.G. Department of Botany, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha-751004 Abstract: An exhaustive study on floristic composition and ethnobotanical survey was conducted to collect information about the occurrence of medicinal plants and their uses by different tribes in Angul-Talcher mining area of Odisha, India. More than 300 angiospermic medicinal plant species were collected and identified from various locations of the study area. Out of these, 46 species have been found to be used very often by the local tribes or rural native populace for the treatment of various diseases. The result of the present study indicate that the tribes population as well as the rural inhabitants of the Angul-Talcher mining areas largely depend on the native plant resource to meet their primary healthcare needs. Keyword: Angul, Diseases, Ethnobotanical medicinal plants, Odisha, Talcher, Tribes 1. Introduction Floral diversity is the natural resource and wealth of a country and acquiring knowledge of it is of immense scientific and commercial importance. Plant community plays an important role in the sustainable management by maintaining biodiversity and conserving the environment. Plants are the basis of life on earth, supplying fresh oxygen and play an important role for people’s livelihood. Worldwide, 422,000 seed plants are reported and more than 50,000 of them are used for medicinal purposes.[1] About 85% of traditional medicine practices used in primary healthcare is derived from plants and in India and China, medicinal plants have the richest arrays of registered and well known to mass.[2] India is one of the twelve mega biodiversity countries of the world having rich vegetation with various plants having medicinal value. About 43% of plants from Indian subcontinent (approximately 7,500 species) were reported to have medicinal utility.[3] In India, about 53.8 million tribal people reside in 5,000 villages with 427 different tribal communities and depend on medicinal plants for their primary health care and treatment of diseases.[4] the traditional knowledge of different tribes is one of the major source of herbalism and the over exploitation of some well known plants resulted in rapid decline of lesser known plants.[5] Odisha is enriched with dense forest with natural plant resources and good traditional knowledge-base. The tribes residing deep inside the forest usually rely on these medicinal plants for their primary health care and treatment of diseases. Odisha states has 62 categories of tribes having good knowledge on medicinal uses of different plants and are completely dependent on the traditional ethno-medicine for their day-to-day primary health care. In view of the meagre work undertaken on the medicinal plants and their uses from the Angul-Talcher region, the present study was undertaken with an objective to record in detail the status of medicinal plant species growing in and around the tribal settlements of this region to emphasize their medicinal uses. 2. Study Area Angul, a centrally located state of Odisha covers a geographical area of 6232 square kilo metres and lies between 20° 31' N and 20° 40' N Latitude and 84° 15' E and 85° 23' E Longitude. The study area is located in Angul - Talcher forest division in the central part of Odisha. 3. Materials and Methods Field studies were conducted from time to time during both winter and summer for the floristic survey on medicinal plants and to collect information about their uses by interacting with the tribes, local inhabitants, village medicine-men and Kavirajs (Vaidyas). They were interviewed to record the uses of various plants and their parts in primary healthcare system for various ailments. The collected species were identified following the available literature.[6][7] And the uses were verified from available works of different workers.[8]-[10] The voucher specimens were deposited in the Herbarium of Post Graduate Department of Botany, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. The various uses of the medicinal plants were recorded. Paper ID: SUB14549 890