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An Insight into Some Common Valuable Weeds of Hazaribag District of Jharkhand

Mitali Gupta, Subir Kumar Khawas*

Department of Botany, Ghaghra Science College, Bagodar

Abstract: The weeds grow spontaneously in the crop fields, gardens, railway tracks, roadside and near water bodies etc. without demanding any proper care and nourishment. They are generally regarded as enemy of crops but they also provide huge benefits to mankind. The present paper emphasizes on some of the importance of the common weeds of Hazaribag district of Jharkhand. An ethnomedical survey was conducted in different areas of Hazaribag district in different seasons for two consecutive years (2019-21) to identify the medicinal properties of the weeds through folk lore claims of villagers and traditional healers and standard literatures. A total of 45 medicinal weeds belonging to 21 families were identified. The study revealed that these weeds have huge potency of treating various serious ailments and if proper awareness and information given to the farmers and local people then these can provide to an additional source of income. These plants are actually a heritage of traditional Indian system of medicine so we need to protect them from their exclusion out of ignorance and consequently extinction.

Keywords: weeds, tribes, medicinal value, Hazaribag, awareness, income

Received March 04, 2022; Revised April 06, 2022; Accepted April 12, 2022

Citation: Mitali Gupta, Subir Kumar Khawas, An Insight into Some Common Valuable Weeds of Hazaribag District of Jharkhand. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 10 (4). 210-218. January 2022. doi:10.12691/aees-10-4-5

1. Introduction

The weeds are referred as plants out of place. They are generally regarded as unwanted or undesirable plants which interferes in the proper utilization of land and water resources. Due to their prolific and enormous seed producing ability, prolonged viability and easy propagation and dispersal, they are considered as pioneer plants that can quickly establish in degraded or poor-quality areas and are harmful for human beings to a great extent. But if we consider the other side of the coin, these weeds are also known to have many significant uses, especially for the tribal and local villagers who have the greatest treasure of knowledge of these weeds. [1] emphasized the significant role of weeds on the food security of tribals. Various scientists [2,3] have worked on few weed species whose leaves were consumed by the tribals of Orissa and Jharkhand.The importance and wisdom of weeds has been explained through historical maxims [4,5]. Use of weeds as medicinal plants has also been discussed in various scientific literatures, for instance regarding home garden weeds in South Africa [6] and rice weeds in Chhattisgarh, Eastern India [7]. Weeds are mostly herbs or under shrubs and are medicinally very useful. The parts of the plant useful may be whole plant, leaves or seeds [14]. The present paper gives an overview of the weeds and its uses being carried out by various tribals and local persons of Hazaribag district of Jharkhand. This will also help the planners and decision makers to go through the pros and cons of these weeds and take necessary balanced corrective action to minimize the loss due to these weeds as well as promoting them by taking into consideration their economic importance [15].

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

The study area for the research was Hazaribag district which is a part of Chotanagpur plateau situated in the northeast part of North Chotanagpur division of Jharkhand. It lies in the geographic coordinates of 23°59’47” N and 85°22’87” E at an elevation of 619 meter above sea level. With an average temperature of 22.9°C, annual rainfall of 1255 mm and average forest cover of 45%, this district is very favorable for the growth of wide variety of weeds [12]. The survey was conducted in following areas of Hazaribag district viz, Canary hill, Hazaribag lake side, Hazaribag town, Sindur, Ichak, Singhani, Jagdishpur, Korrah, Matwari and Khapariyawan.

2.2. Methodology

Field survey was carried out over a period of approximately two years (2019-21) in different seasons from different areas of Hazaribag district of Jharkhand to identify the weeds that are used by the villagers and tribals of this area for their potent medicinal properties. Ethnomedicinal information were collected through interviews with villagers, tribals and traditional healers of the study areas. Colored photographs of the plants were taken (Figure 1) and their habit, habitat, growing season, local name and uses were recorded in the field notebook. All the collected data were critically examined from classical references and the botanical nomenclature of the collected specimen were identified with the help of local floras and relevant literatures [9,10,11] and also verified with the help of local botanists.

Table 1. Geographical coordinates and locality of the weeds found in different places of Hazaribag

3. Result and Discussion

Location and geographic coordinates of all the specimens located in different places of the study area Hazaribag is depicted in Table 1. About 10 medicinally important weed species were collected from Sindur area including V.B.U. campus having geographic coordinates of 24°1’25.22961”N and 85°22’40.14095” E. Five species each were collected from Hazaribag lake, Hazaribag Town and Canary Hill. Four species each were collected from Korrah and Singhani. Three species each were collected from Matwari and Khapariyawan and only two weeds species were collected from Jagdishpur village. A total of 45 different medicinally important weeds belonging to 21 families were identified from the study area as presented in Table 1 and their photographs are depicted in Figure 2. Maximum 9 weed specimens that were collected belong to Asteraceae family, 5 from Amaranthaceae and 4 specimens were from Solanaceae family. 3 specimens each were from Malvaceae, Acanthaceae, Lamiaceae and Fabaceae families. And 1 specimen each were belonging to Polygonaceae, Phyllanthaceae, Piperaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Brassicaceae, Apocynaceae, Boraginaceae, Oxalidaceae, Rubiaceae, Primulaceae, Orobanchaceae, Ncytaginaceae, Caeselpiniaceae and Violaceae. It was observed that several species like Amaranthus viridis, Chenopodium album, Peperomia pellucida, Hygrophila auriculata etc are used as vegetables or saag by the villagers apart from a potential source of herbal medicines. Some weeds were perennial in nature like Choti Kateri, Kata tamatar, Baraira, Anantmul and Kasunda etc. and most of the weeds surveyed are annual growing as either summer weeds, rainy season weeds or winter weeds as mentioned in Table 2. While interviewing the villagers it was observed that they use to store dried parts of those weeds that are medicinally valuable and are not available throughout the year. From the study it was noticed that plants like Abutilon indicum, Ageratum conyzoids, Peristrophe paniculate Xanthium strumarium, Heliotrpium indicum and Evolvulus nummulais etc. [16] are enriched with antimicrobial properties. And weeds like Amaranthus viridis, Chenopodium album and Physallis angulate are good source of vitamin A. From the survey it came into account that for different types of menstrual disorders the local people use Cyanthilium cinereum, Antigononleptopus, Desmodiumgangeticum, Phyllanthus niruri and Solanum xanthocarpum etc. And for skin diseases and infections they use Makoi, Kasunda, Shaalparni, Sahadevi, Anantmul, Chotahalkusa, Bhringraj, Chirchita and Junglitulsi etc. [8]. Leaf extract of Acmella paniculate, Solanum nigrum and Solanum xanthocarpum are widely used by villagers against toothache on regular basis. Chotadhatura, pilpapra, Anantmul, Lal guma, Neel phool and Akarkara were found effective against arthritis and rheumatism. Weeds like Sida acuta, Boerhavia diffusa, Alternanthera sessilis, Euphorbia and Linderbergia muraria are very beneficial in curing asthma and other respiratory disorders. Roots of Leonotis nepetifolia L. are widely used as antihelminthic, and in relieving cough and in skin problems [17] Alternanthera sessilis, Achyranthus aspera and Oxalis corniculata etc. like weeds are used against dysentery and Hygrophila auriculata is used in kidney stones [18] Weed plants are also used by various pharmaceutical companies and local Vaidyas for preparing various herbal formulations. [13]

Table 2. List of some weeds, their family, growing season and significance

Figure 1. Different types of medicinal weeds found in Hazaribag

4. Conclusion

Weeds grow spontaneously in the crop fields, gardens, railway tracks, roadside and near waterbodies etc. without demanding any proper care and nourishment and in return provide huge benefits to mankind if managed properly. Unfortunately, most of the ignorant people of cities and even villages regard them as nuisance and useless and know only about its harmful effects. But due to lack of awareness of its potentiality, these weeds are discarded by the farmers and gardeners as soon as they grow. But in actual sense these weeds are no more unwanted plants rather a boon for mankind specially pharmaceutical industries as they contain chemicals that found are valuable for making drugs of many severe ailments. If the farmers are also made acquainted with the worth and demand of these medicinal weeds then this would open doors for an alternate source of income for them. It is also suggested to do further research on significance of other weeds which will be helpful for the mankind.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the villagers specially tribal peoples who shared their valuable indigenous knowledge with us. Special thanks to Mr. Randhir Kumar Pandey, Ms. Christina Hembrom, Ms. Sukriti Konar, Mr. Aashish Kumar, Ms. Sipra Soni Pradhan and Ms. Neha Verma of Department of Botany, V.B.U. for their valuable contribution. The authors pays sincere thanks to the Head, Department of Botany, VBU, Hazaribag and the Principal, Ghaghra Science College, Bagodar for their cooperation throughout research work.

References

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