ETHNOMEDICINAL IMPORTANCE OF RAINY SEASON WEEDS OF JHANSI DISTRICT

An ethnomedicinal exploration of weeds of Jhansi district, located in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, has been carried out to identify and find out the use of weeds to treat different ailments. Folklore people living in remote areas do not have easy access to hospitals or medical facilities, so they depend on the plants and weeds present in their surroundings to treat various diseases or physical ailments. A survey was made to get the knowledge of medicinal values of weeds in three regions of Jhansi, and it was found that a total of 30 weeds was used at most by folklore people for their treatments. Identified weeds belonging to families Malvaceae, Asteraceae, Solanaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Poaceae, Amaranthaceae, Convolvulaceae, and Ceasalpinaceae, etc. were found to treat various ailments like fever, cough, flu, nausea, skin diseases, body ache, and overall weeds were also known to increase the immunity of the body. Although there is literature known about the uses of weeds or other plants, it is still required more to explore the medicinal values of weeds to break the fact that they are unwanted plants and conserve the biodiversity by avoiding their unnecessary cutting. It was found that all the parts of weeds were used to treat diseases, but leaves were mostly used, followed by stem, root and seeds for the treatment of particular diseases.