Keywords

5.1 Introduction

Nature has an amazing blessing on India where almost all the climatic zones are found with huge diversity in terms of flora and fauna. The biodiversity hot spots are evidential proofs of this amazing country. As the existence of human beings is dependent upon the surroundings of any place hence the settlements of human beings have evolved in accordance with the various geographical zones. That is why, in India there is a huge difference among various communities that belong to different states in terms of their languages, costumes, living standards, rituals, food habits, etc.

Though, over the years, the increasing urbanization throughout the country somewhat successful in lessening these differences among various communities yet the tribes of India are still maintaining their unique identity by conserving their ancient mode of living in forests. These tribes are the treasures of India and many efforts are going on to protect them in their natural habitats.

Like it’s floral and faunal diversity, India is very rich in tribal communities and at present most of states of the country have appreciable tribal populations. The majority of the tribal persons is far away from the much needed education and healthcare systems. They are still dependent on the natural resources to fulfil their daily needs except the formal education. However, they are very well educated by their surroundings and as a result their knowledge about the biodiversity is deeper than that of the so called modern and well-educated society (Pei 2001).

Especially in terms of floral diversity and its sustainable use these tribes are knowledgable and in the era of herbal medication they are reservoirs of treasured information. Whenever, any researcher collects data about the plant uses by various tribes, the term ethnobotany appears. In the past, various ethnobotanists attempted to collect information from these tribes of the country and published very good articles. Those articles tell about the level of knowledge of Indian tribes regarding the plants. Though, till date there are several articles on ethnobotany have been published from different regions of the country, on different aspects, viz., food plants; fodder plants; fibre plants; religious plants, plants in ritual uses, medicinal plants, etc., yet a huge amount of research must be done in this field (Dutta et al. 2014; Sharma and Alam 2018).

Ethnobotany has emerged as one of the most important sciences, on the front of social welfare. Seeing this facet of the subject, studies and intensive research, extensive plant surveys and field studies are being conducted in full swing in numerous universities, colleges, Government and non-governmental autonomous institutions, along with research institutes of higher level.

The wild plants in Indian folklore always have been a valuable reservoir and are being used to fulfill the various needs of the tribal people. Generally, it is projected that almost 15,000 species of plant are used by Indian tribes and other poor people. These plants provide almost everything to the tribes, viz., food, fodder, clothing, shelter, drugs, medicine, agricultural implements, hunting, tranquilizers, toxin, masticatories, resins and dyes, fuels and insecticides etc.

In this manner it can be also said that the studies about human ecology and ethnobotany has attained a prime importance: it has become a critical need of modern ages, because ethnobotany deals with the direct, traditional, and natural relationships between plant wealth and human societies Ethnobotanical studies enable us to keep the records, and prepare proper documentation of the age old knowledge and wisdom of the tribal and rural people about the miraculous and useful properties of different plant species. In other words, ethnobotanical studies are considered as an important tool for the utilization of floristic diversity for the sake of human welfare (Jain 1994).

The enhancing interest of present-day workers in the field of ethnobiology, has resulted in the fact that biodiversity is now emerging as holistic segment of ecology. Therefore, studies related to ethnobotany undertake prodigious significance in enhancing our understanding about the floral wealth used by the tribal or native or rural people, the rich plant diversity assembled by these rural people or natives for their sustenance and the various methods followed by those people for the preservation and conservation of this information. Since the dawn of olden Indus Valley civilizations evidence proved the existence of a great dearth of ethnobotanical knowledge. Even the written records about the utilization of plant resources for the treatment and prevention of human or animal diseases can be traced back to the Vedic ages, i.e. the earliest from 4500 to 1600 B.C from the conventional scriptures of Hindu religion such as Rig Veda (Sharma and Alam 2018).

The traditional Indian indigenous structure of medicine popularly recognized as Ayurveda was splendidly established in the later parts of the vedic ages from 1500 to 800 B.C. (Harshberger 1896; Buckingham 1994). Even now it is well known as integral and inseparable part of tribal culture. This depicts that Aryans of Vedic ages had a thorough knowledge of medicinal plants. Similarly, in Atharava- Veda description of several plants was found. This illustrated narrative of plants was later on practiced by monumental ancient treatise on the subject like ‘Charak Samhita’ (1000–800 B.C), ‘Sushutra Samhita’ (800–700 B.C), and Vighatta’s Astanga Hridasja. These three classical documentations can be considered as milestones in the traditional Indian indigenous curative system (Chaudhury and Pal 1975; Trivedi 2007).

Looking upon this inextricable link between indigenous ethnic culture and botanical upkeep, the decade beginning from 1 January 1995 was observed as year of ethno the “International decade for the World’s Indigenous and Ethnic People”. All over the world the ethnic people have engaged in a pivotal role for the safety of floral and faunal wealth with which they have emotional and interdependent relationship.

In the agenda 21 of Rio Earth Summit which was held in 1992, it is clearly stated that Indigenous (i.e. tribal or ethnic societies) folks and their societies and other local groups have a vivacious role in the environmental supervision and sustainable development as they have sound knowledge and traditional practices for the same. Hence, it is necessary that every nation and states should identify the areas to protect and duly support their ethnic identity, culture and welfares and enable their actual participation in the achievement of supportable development (Trivedi 2007; Alam 2020).

Since tribal communities have naturally educated to live in the most hostile conditions from Polar Regions to equator, from the arid deserts to the wet tropical rain forests, therefore these ethnic people have established, various sophisticated techniques to survive in their surroundings and to make the circumstances congenial or advantageous for leading their life rather with ease and comfort. Generally, tribes or the ethnic people have nurtured the areas of high biodiversity in their community lands and in their vicinity. In most of the cases, higher proportion of diversified species has been recorded in ethnic community areas, and in their water bodies (Jain 1991, 1994).

5.2 Ethnobotany in Indian Subcontinents

The plants mentioned in Indian literature and in the religious books of Hindus (e.g. Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Upanishads, and Mahabharata) provided the base for Indian ethnobotanists. The Indian subcontinent depicts a unique richness in floristic diversity. They have estimated that out of these 15,000 species, approximately 7500 species have medicinal importance; about 3900 species of plants are edible, while 700 species are utilized in traditional rituals, cultural purposes, and in the important functions of tribal societies (Jain 1991). Similarly, the other plant species are also used for diversified purposes such as fibres, fodder, gum, resins and dye, pesticides and insecticides, as well as for incense and perfume. The floristic wealth in India is spread in natural habitats, in the different types of forests and other plant communities. However, it is also quite interesting to note that in such areas where native communities dominate, they use native plant wealth and practice customary agriculture. In this manner these tribal or primitive societies maintain intact their own lifestyle customs, rituals and beliefs. Jain and Mitra (1997) combined all information on the uses of medicinal plants from English literature in form of catalogues, dispensatories, pharmacopoeias of plants. The researchers of Botanical Survey of India (B.S.I) roofed ethnobotanical studies which covered more than 30 diverse ethnic societies of 16 states of India (Sharma and Alam 2018).

According to ‘All India Coordinated Research Project on Ethnobiology’ (AICRPE) which had inputs from Botanical Survey of India (B.S.I), National Botanical Research Institute (N.B.R.I), Central Drug Research Institute (C.D.R.I), Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, collected valuable information according to which about 10,000 species of wild plants have been used by ethnic people to satisfy their all requirements.

So, much information is already available by the great efforts of ethnobotanists of the country nevertheless there is always a scope to update the existing knowledge for the future. Keeping this in view it was found that no consolidated account about the aromatic and medicinal plants that are used by Indian tribes is available till date. Therefore, this article is an attempt to provide an all-inclusive account on this important aspect of ethnobotany. In this article, with the exhaustive study of available literature, a compilation of Indian tribes setting has been done and all the aromatic plants having medicinal value have been placed together (Mittre 1981; Sasikala et al. 2019).

5.3 Outline of Indian Tribes

To begin it must be noted that the list of Scheduled Tribes is State/Union Territory explicit and a community acknowledged as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) in a state need not be ST in another state. The insertion of a tribe as a Scheduled Tribe is a dynamic process. The indispensable features first laid down in 1965 as the Lokur Committee which had a purpose to identify a community to as Scheduled Tribes. Those important features are:

  1. (a)

    Indications of primitive traits;

  2. (b)

    Distinctive culture;

  3. (c)

    Extremely low literacy; and

  4. (d)

    Subsistence level of economy.

5.3.1 Distribution of Tribes

The Scheduled Tribes are notified in 30 States/UTs and the number of individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as Scheduled Tribes is 705.

The tribal populace of India, as per 2011 census, was 10.43 crore, sharing 8.6% of the total population. About 89.97% of them are living in rural areas and 10.03% in urban areas.

The decadal population growth of the tribes from Census 2001 to 2011 was 23.66% against the 17.69% of the entire population.

The trend in ST population since Census 1961 is illustrated in Table 5.1. From 30.1 million in 1961, the ST population has increased to 104.3 million in 2011 (Alam 2020).

Table 5.1 Trends in proportion of scheduled tribe population
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It can be observed from maps that more than 2/3 of the ST population is residing only in the 7 major states, viz., Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. Surprisingly, there is no ST inhabitants in 3 States (Delhi-NCR, Punjab and Haryana) and 2 UTs (Pondicherry and Chandigarh).

5.3.2 Major Tribes of India

It is noticed that every 20th person on the earth belongs to tribal societies. Tribal culture occupies a significant role in our sociological society. Tribal can be called as the sons of the soil, as they are artistic of their place and also familiarize with living in absolute synchronization with nature. Tribal are dispersed in about more than 70 countries all over the world. More or less 150 million tribal found in Asia; out of which in China and India about two third of earliest people are lived.

In case of distribution of tribes on the globe, India possesses the highest traditional populations in comparison to other countries (Fig. 5.1).

Fig. 5.1
figure 1

Percentage of ST population in India. (Source: Census 2011 by Registrar General of India)

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Different anthropologists called them by various names in different regions of India. e.g., Martin and A. V. Thackkar (Uprety et al. 2010) called them as ‘Adivasis or Aborigines’, termed them as ‘Forest tribes’ or ‘Folk’ (Kirtikar and Basu 1935, 1980; Jain 1991, 1994).

As designated by numerical data available the Indian subcontinent is populated by 53 million tribes occurring to over 650–700 tribal culture of 227 traditional groups.

Tribes add up to 7.7% of India’s population. Out of which few are prehistoric tribes such as Lepchas and Rajis, which are facing problem of disappearance. So, for safeguard of tribes the constitution of India establishes some special concern under Article 46.

The importance of tribal cannot be estimated by their amplification and distribution. For example, “Toda” has possessed very small population, so it was ignored by ethnobotanists for a longer time period.

There are some tribal cultures in India which are called as earliest human population on this earth which are totally restricted in forest areas for their survival. Such societies include Jarawas, Sentineles and Shompens of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

These tribes are totally dependent on hunting, food gathering and fishing. These tribes are behaving as massive protector of biodiversity as they follow various taboos and totems for securing the regeneration of wild plant species (Jain 1994).

There are several major tribes like – Khasi, Garo and Nagas form North East (Moa et al. 2009), Khonds from Odisha, Santhals from Bihar, Gonds from Central India, Bhotia, Khus, Boksa from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Dabla from Gujarat, Kinnaur from Himachal Pradesh, Irula from South India, Bhils; Damors; Garasias; Kathodias; Meenas from Rajasthan (Table 5.1).

According to 1951 census, 5.6% of the total Indian population was tribal. While in accordance to the year 2011-Census, the number of scheduled tribes was ‘10, 42, 81,034’. It was 8.6% of the total population of India at that time. A total of ‘9, 38, 19,162’ people belonging to scheduled tribes were residing in rural areas whereas 1, 04, 61,872 people shifted to urban areas.

According to census-2011, there were about 550 schedule tribes in India, constituted 11.3% of the total population of rural areas and 2.8% of urban areas.

5.4 State Wise Representation of Tribes and Major Uses of Plants

5.4.1 Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Andhra Pradesh is considered as a home for 33 tribal communities, viz., Lambada, Yarukala, Yanadi, Valmiki, Porja, Kondh, Bagata, Konda Kapu, Konda Reddy, Koya Dora, Konda Kammara etc.), which possess 6.59% of the state’s population (Reddy 2008). They have knowledge of different drugs used for their ailments (Ratnam and Raju 2008; Naidu 2011; Nadakarni 2013). These tribes tend to use the ambient plant wealth for the cure of skin diseases, burns, cuts, diabetes, backache, leucorrhoea, veterinary diseases, dysentery, scorpion sting, tumors, anthrax, malaria, worm infestation etc. (Kapoor and Kapoor 1980; Pullaiah 2007; Reddy et al. 2010). There is chance for cultivation of various native medicinal plants (which are produced by Pharmaceutical Companies of Andhra Pradesh and other states of India) by Government and Private Firms for establishing crude drug extracts of drug plants. This can increase the quality of Ayurvedic medicines and thus trust of tribal on native systems of medicine.

5.4.2 Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh is the only state in North East region of India having 28 major tribes along with 110 subtribes (Nath and Saikia 2002; Tag et al. 2005). The rich floral diversity of the state has given the immense benefit to its residents to understand, use, and conserved their natural resources and traditional knowledge base. There are over 500 plant species which has been mentioned from Arunachal Pradesh. The folks of Arunachal Pradesh find their way to survive by using natively accessible medicinal plants (Namsa et al. 2011).

5.4.3 Assam

There are some major tribes like – Rabha, Bodo, Garo, Hajong which found in Assam state. Beyond Assam, these tribes are also present in Meghalaya, Manipur, West Bengal. They utilize many plant species in their daily life (Tamuli and Ghosal 2017).

The Thengal-Kacharis tribe of Assam has the indigenous acquaintance on diseases as well as their remedies with the outmoded use of diverse parts of natural herbals, viz., roots, leaves and shoots etc. From which they treat patients suffering from different serious ailments. Thus, Thengal society has sturdy confidence on herbals to cure many human diseases (Borah 2014).

5.4.4 Bihar and Jharkhand

There are many prominent tribes exist in Bihar and Jharkhand states. Santhal tribe is considered as the second larger most tribe after Gond and it is present in Bihar, Bengal and Odisha states. In Bihar, this tribe is found in Dhanbad, Hajaribag, Singhbum, Purnia, Bhagalpur and Saharsa (Prasad and Singh 2014; Dey and Mukherjee 2015).

The Oraon tribe is also commonly called as Dhangar and present near Raigarh and Surguja districts of Madhya Pradesh. They use various herbal drugs, tubers, bulbs, flowers and fruits of various species to cure many diseases. They believe in use of folk medicines in the treatment of their diseases.

5.4.5 Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh is gorgeous in terms of its forest resources; approximately 44% area of the state is under forest cover. Kanwar, Oraon, Korva and Gond tribes of this state use many medicinal plants as traditional knowledge (Dubey and Bhadur 1996; Patel 2012).

5.4.6 Gujarat

In this state of west about 5 million tribal populaces is living. Among all the Bhil tribe account for over 50% of the total Gujrat’s tribal population. Most of the tribes claim descent from few clans, viz., the Solanki, Rathod, Chauhan, Makwana and Parmar. The main tribes of this state are Bhil (Taviyad/Garasia/Dholi/Dungri/Mewasi), Bhilala, Bhagalia, Vasava, Pawra, Vasave, etc. (Patel et al. 2018).

5.4.7 Himachal Pradesh

Due to varied altitudinal gradients and climatic conditions, this state possesses rich plant diversity, which includes around 3400 plant species (Chowdhery 1999). The state of Himachal Pradesh consists of various tribal like- Gaddi, Gujjar, Kinnura, Bhot or Bhotia, Swangla, Lahaula and Pangwal (Sharma and Lal 2005).

5.4.8 Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir can be authentically stated as the most sublime and out-of-this-world locale amidst the Himalayan splendor. Jammu and Kashmir are an abode to quite several tribal communities, who have settled down in every corner of this hilly region. The tribal and their places, the tribal and their customs, their cultures, their means of communication, or simply their culinary arts, makes the tribes of J&K stand out from the rest of Indian tribesmen. Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes of Jammu and Kashmir interpreted various medicinal and aromatic plants (Gupta et al. 1982; Sharma and Singh 1989).

5.4.9 Karnataka

These tribes of this southern state have built their settlements in some hilly and hilly areas. These tribes of Karnataka state interact with each other in dissimilar languages, however Kananda is their main language. However, they possess their separate tradition and ethnicity. Some of them are also supposed as being originated from the ancient warrior race (Bhandary et al. 1995; Narayanan et al. 2011).

5.4.10 Kerala

In Kerala the prominent tribes are Panyan, Irula, Pulaya and Kadar. These tribe have a rich heritage of adapting the profession of forests product collection and some of them are the practitioners of rituals and medicines. A tribe, Malaipandaram settled in the mountainous forest near to Sabarimala (Prakash et al. 2008; Xavier et al. 2014).

5.4.11 Madhya Pradesh

Central India also hosts rich flora of medicinal significance. Regions like Vindhyachal, Aravali ranges, Bailadilla Hills, Satpuda, Abhujmar, Khurchel valleys, Kanger reserve, Amarkantak, Pachmarhi and Patalkot areas major reservoirs (Wagh and Jain 2010a, b). As observed earlier, total 500 species of medicinal plants found in which some are economically important medicinal plants that are now on the verge of extinction. The major tribes are Pardhi, Pawara and Bhil tribes who used the traditional medical practices (Sharma et al. 2010; Kumar et al. 2004).

5.4.12 Maharashtra

Tribes of Maharashtra are the primitive people of this region and are dispersed in different parts of the state. Mostly they are the inhabitants of the hilly areas. Some of the tribes are of primitive and nomadic character. Tribes like Warli Tribe, Bhil Tribe, Koli Tribe and Halba Tribe are some of the tribes that inhabit in the land of Maharashtra. They have their characteristic language, clothes, folklores, rites and (Natarajan and Paulsen 2000).

5.4.13 Manipur

The state has a central valley (Imphal Valley) populated by the Meitei and Meitei pangal whereas the hilly areas are settled by 30 different tribes of Naga and Kuki tribes (Yumnam and Tripathi 2012). The North – Eastern region of India including Manipur is part of both Himalaya as well as Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots in the world supporting about 50% of the total India’s biodiversity but represent only 8% of the total geographical area of India (Moa et al. 2009). In Manipur, the Meitei tribe inhabiting in the valley regions have the traditional knowledge of eating minor and underutilized fruit crops as medicine from time immemorial to treat different ailments and are associated with various folklore and rituals, which are performed by traditional herbal healers of medicinal men and women locally known as “Maibas” and “Maibis” (Singh et al. 2003).

5.4.14 Meghalaya

Meghalaya is a climatic gift of nature that gives rushes of rain to this region, which inclined by the Southwestern monsoon due to the Bay of Bengal. The Meghalaya state is divided into three mountainous regions, viz., Garo Hills (Western part), the Khasi Hills (Central part) and the Jaintia Hills (Eastern part). The tribes of this state are also residing well in these parts and enjoying the nature’s gifts (Rao 1981; Kayang 2007).

5.4.15 Mizoram

Medicinal plants are the second most resources of Mizoram after water resources. Medicinal plants such as Swertia spp., Neopicrorhizasp., Podophyllum sp., Taxus wallichiana, Podocarpus sp. are highly demanded and globally important. Thus, around 500 to 1000 ethnomedicinal and aromatic plants have been mentioned (Lalramnghinglova 1999). But one plant sp. i.e., Parispolyphylla, locally called Khambal of (family Liliaceae) has not been documented. High valuable medicinal plants constitute basis for advanced allopathic drugs development and the use of aboriginal drugs from plant origin which form major part of complementary medicine (Joshi et al. 2004).

5.4.16 Nagaland

This state has 16 major tribes – Ao, Angami, Chakhesang, Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Lotha, Phom, Pochury, Rengma, Sangtam, Sumi, Yimchunger, Zeliang, Kuki, and Kachari. Each tribe is exclusive in character in its linguistic, custom. Nagaland has basically an agricultural economy. With its different agroclimatic conditions has several types of forest and is covered with coniferous trees, broad varieties of flora, medicinal plants, bamboos, and thus has huge potential to utilize and cultivate various types of medicinal and aromatic plants. Phom tribe of Longleng district constitutes a great role in use of medicinal plants. Angamis tribe (Khonoma village) of Nagaland is needed to make careful use of the resources, so that the integrity and traditional knowledge is not lost (Rao and Jamir 1982a, b).

5.4.17 Odisha

Tribes of Odisha comprise a great variety with exclusive and vibrant socio-cultural life. The total population of tribes living in the state of Odisha is much more than other places in India. Their distribution in different districts however varies. Kalahandi, Koraput, Rayagada District, Naurangpur and Malkangiri are some of the districts of Odisha where more than 50% of the total population is tribal. The name of Saora tribe (or Sabar) is mentioned in the great Hindu epic of Mahabharata. The tribes of Odisha belong to three linguistic divisions, namely Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and Austric. These tribes follow the trend of building their houses with bamboo and thatched roofs (Sahu et al. 2011).

5.4.18 Rajasthan

The total area covered by tribes in Rajasthan is 5,474,881which is 12.44% of the total population of this state. The tribes of Rajasthan constitute 8.07% of the total tribal population of India. Several tribes inhabited in the state of Rajasthan, namely – ‘Bhil’, ‘Bhil-Meena’, ‘Garasia’ ‘Damor’, ‘Dhanaka’, ‘Kathodia’, ‘Meena’, ‘Patelia’ and ‘Saharia’. Out of which, there are some nomadic, semi-nomadic tribes. Nomadic tribes are ‘Banjara’, ‘Gadia–Lohar’ and ‘Kalbelia’, whereas semi-nomadic tribes are ‘Rebari’, ‘Jogi’ and ‘Masani’. ‘Bori’, ‘Kanjer’, ‘Sansi’, ‘Bhat’ are included in de-notified tribes. The most common plants recorded are Curcuma longa, Vitex negundo, Ocimum sanctum, Sesamum indicum and flour of Cicer aritinum which used as ethnomedicinal purposes (Sebastian and Bhandari 1984; Trivedi 2002; Jain et al. 2005; Sharma and Kumar 2011; Sharma and Kumar 2012).

5.4.19 Sikkim

It is also a beautiful Indian state with great floral wealth. This small state is also a home to the common ethnic Gorkhali folks which comprise tribes via., Limbu (Subba), Gurung, Chhetri, Newar, Thakuri, Sherpa, Tamang, Magar (Manger), Shresthas, Kami, Sunuwar, Kirat Rai, Sarki, Hyolmo and Damai (Jha et al. 2016).

5.4.20 Tamil Nadu

The tribes of Tamil Nadu encompass noteworthy population ranging from diminishing to immense. A prominent fact about these Tamil tribes is sharing of enormously opposing and accompanying relationship among them. For instance, a precise tribe is involved in rational activity like tea/coffee cultivation, or dairy, and on the other tribe is involved in yet-primordial activities like witchcraft or occult. The Todas community inhabit as the dominant amongst the other tribes. The Kotas and the Irulas are also notable in the tribal section of Tamil Nadu, excelling mainly in handicrafts work and agriculture (Sharma and Alam 2018). The valuable contributions of ethnobotanical interests on Tamil Nadu given by Ramachandran and Nair (1982), Ansari and Dwarakan (1993), Kaushik (1988), and Kaushik and Dhiman (2000).

5.4.21 Tripura

Tripura tribes viz., Jamatia, Chakma, Halam, Kuki, Santhal, Murasing,Chaimal, Uchoi, Magh, Garo, Lushai, Oraon, Mog, Bhutia, Lepcha, Bhil, Munda, Reang, Tripuri possess great familiarity on the medicinal plants and their utilization. So, their traditional knowledge can enhance the potential of these medicinal plants to other societies as well and it can lead to be helped in conservation of these plants for further use (Dipankar et al. 2012; Debbarma et al. 2017).

The Ochoi possesses rich knowledge about treatment of minor diseases and perform many enchanted rites and worships for cure of diseases (Majumdar and Datta 2007). But with the time, their knowledge is vanishing rapidly due to lack of documentation and loss of interest.

5.4.22 Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand

The major tribal populace of Uttaeparadesh and Uttarakhand are Tharu, Raji, BhotiaJaunsari, and Bhoksa. They are mainly residing in the Uttarakhand encompassing areas like Uttar-kashi, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Champawat, Almora, Chamoli, Bageswar, Haridwar, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Dehra Dun, Udham Singh Nagar and Rudraprayag. The tribal populace of Uttar Pradesh mostly hails from few hilly regions of U.P. and belongs to the Jat or the Gujjar race. These tribal people are mainly inhabiting in those districts which are adjacent to Nepal and be indebted for their lineage to the Indo-Aryan and Indo-Scythian tribes (Sharma et al. 2010; Singh and Singh 2009; Sharma et al. 2017).

5.4.23 West Bengal

The state of West Bengal has a mixture of tribes from Odisha, and Jharkhand. The diversity of state is evident from its population, individual count and of course the intellectual stamina of the people residing in this region. This state includes tribes like - Santal, Lodha, Munda, Oraon (Maji and Sikdar 1982; Dey and De 2012).

5.4.24 Andaman and Nicobar

Tribes of this particular state are - Nicobarese, Shompens, Jarawas, Sentinels, Onges and Great Andamanese and Karen tribes. The traditional knowledge of these tribes is disappearing along with its natural resources due to lack of support and recognition. Due to existence of wide biodiversity, there are about 71 medicinal plants in the island which are now endemic (Dagar and Dagar 1991).

States like Delhi, Haryana, Panjab, Goa are not known for their tribal communities.

5.5 Discussion

The present study reveals the great diversity in Indian tribes inhabiting in different phyto-geographical regions of the country with mutual understanding with their floral wealth. Based on this review it can be said that because of tribal communities, the modern researchers got valuable information regarding plant uses including medicinal and aromatic plants. The tribal communities are conserving and protecting this floral wealth across India. India contains two hot spots of biodiversity because of these tribes, as one can correlate the populations of tribal communities in these two hot spots of biodiversity, i.e. Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats.

This review reveals the intimate relationships among the tribes and floral wealth and through light on this neglected relationship in the conservation of biodiversity. It can be said that all these tribal populaces have great knowledge of medicinal and aromatic plants, and surprisingly the use of particular plant of plant parts are more or less same among these tribes, though they have their uniqueness in other aspects of life. So, the floral wealth of the country is successful in binding the diverse cultures by their exclusive significance. Although the plants have different names across the country, but they have somewhat same medicinal uses. This review is about the aromatic plants only and based on all available literature total 134 aromatic plants (Table 5.2) with medicinal properties have been listed along with their uses.

Table 5.2 List of medicinal and aromatic plants used by different tribes for various medications India
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5.6 Conclusions

As we know medicinal plants play a vital role in ancillary wellbeing in India. From previous studies, it is estimated that around 75% of the population occupying in pastoral or rural areas are adjacent to the natural wealth and have vast knowledge about traditional use of medicinal and aromatic plants presented among prehistoric peoples for ages in India.

Medicinal plants continue to provide health security to millions not only in India but also all over the world. As far as India is concerned around 17,000 angiosperm taxa of the designed 25 hotspots in the world and due to which this constitutes 550 tribes having rich knowledge of traditional uses of medicinal and aromatic plants (Singh and Panda 2005).

Although a variety of studies has been conducted all over India, this attempt finds that the traditional knowledge of medicinal and aromatic plants among population of tribes is still under-documented because only 134 valid plant species have been listed here on the basis of previous work done by the researchers. However, this number can increase further in future because now the ethnobotanical research is regaining attention of botanists and herbalist after a dark phase.

Thus, by this review article an attempt was made to find out the aromatic plants that were mentioned in ethnobotanical text to provide a base for ongoing and future work in this direction.

5.7 Future Prospects

Traditional knowledge of the use of plants has always been transmitted from one generation to another generation. But now, the continuation of this knowledge is in threatened because of lack of transmission between younger and older generations. The young generations of these tribes are willing to settle in urban areas of the country hence causing a lacuna in the information transmission. Therefore, there is an urgent need to inventory and record all ethnobiological information of all tribes not only in India but all over the world. Thus, it is a duty of government, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), and all of us to protect their habitats and culture and encourage them to stay at their native places and continue to traditions in eco-friendly way. They are the hidden protectors of India’s natural way but now there is great need to protect them and make them comfortable in their livelihoods.