Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ECOLOGY AND ETHNOBOTANY OF THE JUANG OF KEONJHAR DISTRICT, ORISSA, INDIA

B. Acharya, H.P. Sahoo and R.K. Parida

Abstract

Ecological and ethnobotanical approaches to human society is important in the context of environmental degradation. The small scale societies always experience the worst consequences of degradation of their cultural environment. The paper attempts to analyse the prevailing ecological condition of the tribal habitat and the ethnobotanical practices of the Juang tribe of Keonjhar district of Orissa. After giving a brief account of the Juang and the ecology of their habitat, a comprehensive study on the medicinal uses of plant species has been made basing on the traditional knowledge system of the tribe. Ethnobotanical information on the use of 126 plant species belonging to 107 general and 54 families have been recorded. Of the total number of plant species reported during investigation medicinal uses of 66 belonging to 40 families are reported.