Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants in Devankuruchi hills in Madurai district,Tamil Nadu

In order to create an account on medicinal plants in treatment, an ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the Devankuruchi hills, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu. This study was conducted during April 2014 to March 2015 to survey the medicinal plants and the information’s were collected from the villagers through group discussions and personal interviews. The informants were selected randomly and no preparations were made prior to the visit. In this study, 54 species of valuable medicinal plants used as a cure for 45 aliments were recorded which are distributed across 31 families. The plants documented for the ethnomedicinal values have been identified and collected from the village peoples. They were represented in a table with the botanical name, their local name, parts used, and their medicinal advantages. In this study, it was found that the most abundantly utilized plant part for preparation of medicine was leaves (64%). The results inventoried a wide range of plants were used to treat various common human ailments, fodder and food by the villagers in Devankuruchi hills.