Wasteland Medicinal Plants of Aligarh Used For Liver Diseases

Abstract

The paper provides the traditional and medicinal uses of 10 medicinal, waste land self sown plant species growing abundantly in the urban and rural areas of Aligarh district that are used for various liver diseases. Plants as food are essential components of human diet and are must for healthy living, as consists of various compounds closely related to liver health. The most urgent task at the present time is to find the best dietary and medicinal plants for liver health. The studied plants belonged to 9 families and 10 genera. These plant species are used by practitioners and local medicine men in the village area. Data was recorded for Botanical, local name, flowering and fruiting time, plant part used with the disease name. Most of the species are herbaceous in nature. These plant species have been used as medicine to cure various common liver diseases like jaundice (4), cirrhosis, lifestyle disorders viz., alcohol / drugs induced hepatitis, fatty liver and sluggish/ swollen liver (2) while for hepatitis only one herb found to be effectively used by medicine men. Leaf (13) constituent was highest of utilization followed by Roots (8), Fruit (4), Whole Plant (4), Seed (3), Flower (3), Latex (1), Seed Oil (1) and Bark (1).