Author(s): Dr. Sarojini Padhan

Abstract:
The present study deals with the identification, documentation and ethno-botanical exploration with respect to food value of wild edible medicinal plants of Kalahandi district, Odisha. Total 3o wild edible fruits were surveyed. Fruits are the nature’s gift to mankind. Out of 30 plant species, some are being used against jaundice, fever, diarrhoea, dysentery, cough, malaria fever, skin diseases. Due to urbanization and partial modernization, the primitive communities in this region are losing their traditional culture and practice of medicinal plant use in their daily life. Due to deforestation and shifting cultivation are the main causes of medicinal plant diversity. Due to poor condition of modern healthcare facilities and poverty, indigenous people of the district fully or partially depend on local medicinal plants. Currently the Government of India, realizing the value of the country’s vast range of medicinal plant, has embarked on a mission of documenting the traditional knowledge about medicinal plants and herbs. This investigation in a small way takes of the enumeration of the plants, with medicinal values which are used by the tribal groups residing in and around Kalahandi district, Odisha.