Documentation of Folkloric Knowledge on Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Mouth Ulcers in Kodangal Mandal, Mahabubnagar District, Telangana, India

The modus operandi of ethnic treatment has very deep root in Indian culture, the uses of the folkloric plants not only for curing diseases but also during various ceremonies. Right from beginning to man history, people have relied on ethno medicine and folkloric plants in particular to promote and maintain good health. This dependency of man on plant made him to acquire the knowledge on medicinal and economic properties of plants by trial and error methods. The occupy of traditional medicines and medicinal plants in most developing countries as curative agents for the continuation of good health has been extensively observed [1]. In India 65% of the residents depends on folkloric medicine, which is the only resource of their crucial health heed needs [2]. India is one of the twelve mega-biodiversity countries of the world having rich foliage with a spacious variety of plants with medicinal value. In excess of 550 tribal communities are roofed under 227 ethnic groups residing in about 5000 villages of India in different forests and vegetation types [3]. As a result, he gained both useful and detrimental information, accumulated, enriched through generations and passed on from generation to another without any written document. As it was a part of their culture, no written document of this skill and knowledge was required.


Introduction
The modus operandi of ethnic treatment has very deep root in Indian culture, the uses of the folkloric plants not only for curing diseases but also during various ceremonies. Right from beginning to man history, people have relied on ethno medicine and folkloric plants in particular to promote and maintain good health. This dependency of man on plant made him to acquire the knowledge on medicinal and economic properties of plants by trial and error methods. The occupy of traditional medicines and medicinal plants in most developing countries as curative agents for the continuation of good health has been extensively observed [1]. In India 65% of the residents depends on folkloric medicine, which is the only resource of their crucial health heed needs [2]. India is one of the twelve mega-biodiversity countries of the world having rich foliage with a spacious variety of plants with medicinal value. In excess of 550 tribal communities are roofed under 227 ethnic groups residing in about 5000 villages of India in different forests and vegetation types [3]. As a result, he gained both useful and detrimental information, accumulated, enriched through generations and passed on from generation to another without any written document. As it was a part of their culture, no written document of this skill and knowledge was required.
Documentation of folkloric knowledge on the uses of medicinal plants has provided many important drugs preparation, mode of action secrets from our fore fathers. Even today this area holds much more hidden treasure as almost 80% of the human population in developing countries is dependent on plant resources for healthcare. Though, the past 200 years have witnessed not only an acceleration in the rate of extinction of plant and animal species, but also the erosion of folkloric knowledge related to medicinal properties. May be, it is due to the advances in science, like molecules from plant in pure form and formulated the synthetic compounds for the treatment of various diseases. The ever-rising cost of the synthetic drug, its incompetence in several cases and its involvement with harmful side effects are some of the demerits leading man to re-think over the use of synthetic drugs for a longer period.
Consequently, since previous twenty five years, again the folkloric medicine is gaining importance all over the world. People realized the significance of documentation of folkloric knowledge on medicinal plants. Mouth ulcers are a common condition that affects the general population at one time or another. The majority of medication that has been used so far i.e. mouth washes and gels have the disadvantage of reduced contact time with the affected area. Oral hygiene is an integral part of health of a person. Oral health when neglected, results in different types of oral ailments like mouth ulcers, dental caries and periodontal diseases. Oral disorders can significantly affect the general well-being of a person by causing considerable pain and discomfort, thus affecting their quality of life [4]. The study area located at rural background of Telangana, where the people were not concentrating on their health and hygienic. There were no previous reports from the Telangana State on the folkloric medicinal plants against mouth ulcers, so the present report becomes a first and novel report.

Materials and Method
Regular field trips were undertaken to different localities of the study area during the period from May 2013 to Nov 2014. Localities were selected in such a way that they should represent the entire mandal including rural areas and tribal pockets. A list of folkloric practitioners belonging to different areas was prepared. Each locality was visited during different seasons and collected the information about the seasonal medicinal plants. During the fieldwork, frequent visits were made to the herbal practitioners and efforts were made to convince them to disclose their folkloric knowledge about the healing plants.
The information about the plants was recorded by means of discussions and interviews using standard questionnaire [5] with the informers along with the field visits during the collection hours. The information was gathered like local name(s) of the plant, parts used methods of preparation. The information about the ingredients added, methods of administration or application, dose and duration of medication and associated medicated food was also recorded in few cases.
The collected plant specimens were authentically identified with the help of floras such as, Flora of Andhra Pradesh [6], Flora of British India [7], and Flora of Gulbarga District [8] and the voucher numbers were given and herbarium specimens were prepared. Telangana is a 29 th state of India. It comprises 10 districts. Mahabubnagar district is one of the biggest districts of Telangana state, it is located south west region of Telangana, latitude between 15°55' and 17°29' N, longitude between 77°15' and 79°15 'E, area18,432 sq. km, the present study area Kodangal mandal is also one of the 64 mandals. This mandal area in 242.0 sq. Km, population in persons 48, 299 and density 200 (per sq. km). The people of this mandal were economically little backward. They can speak four languages, knowledge flows from one culture to other. The plant diversity is very rich and a good number of medicinal plants are used in the treatment of various diseases including mouth ulcers. Therefore, the present study focused on the documentation of folkloric knowledge on medicinal plants used in the treatment of mouth ulcers (Figure 1).

Results
In the present folkloric botanical report, a total of 32 folkloric medicinal plants used in the treatment of mouth ulcers in Kodangal mandal, Mahabub nagar district, Telangana state have been documented using standard questioner. Of 32 plants species belonging to 31 genera and 22 families were found useful. The largest family Fabaceae was represented 04 species followed by Euphorbiaceae 03 species, whereas the five families i.e., Apiaceae, Lythraceae, Lamiaceae, Myrtaceae and Verbenaceae represented by 2 of each species. While the 15 families represented single species each. Among parts used 20 plants species were used without ingredients, while 12 used with ingredients. The present report described them in detailed along with the method of drug preparation, mode of administration, probable dosage and duration of treatment. Maximum new findings on the ethnic practices were documented.

Discussion
Data was compared with the available previous literature and found that many of the usages listed are not recorded earlier [9]. Earlier there were no reports on mouth ulcers from the present study area. This is first and unique report. Frequency in distribution sources, Percentage in distribution of growth forms, Distribution of medicinal plants into taxonomic groups, Frequency in distribution of plant parts of medicinal plants against mouth ulcers was analyzed. Frequency distribution sources of medicinal plants in the study area against mouth ulcers shown in Figure 2. Of 32 plants species documented, shows that both the (Cultivated and Wild) share the largest proportion with 15 species (46.87%) followed by Wild (In-situ) with 09 species (28.12%) and Cultivated (Ex-situ) with 08 species (25%).

Distribution of medicinal plants into taxonomic groups
The genus Phyllanthus has 2 species each. The remaining genera with one species each with respect to families, Fabaceae was shared the largest proportion, i.e., consisted of 4 species each, followed by Euphorbiaceae 3 species, Apiaceae, Lythraceae, Lamiaceae, Myrtaceae and Verbenaceae 2 species each and the remaining 15 families with 1 species each. The analysis of method of preparation indicated that plant parts are often rendered into different forms of remedies in accordance with the type of ailment to be treated and the medical history of the subject patient. In this regard, from a total of 32 preparations (Table  1), oral mixture takes the highest share which account for about 56.4%, followed by topical having a share of 40.2%. Despite the existence of variations of knowledge on preparation of remedies amongst different cultures, local people often tend to make remedies that look alike some extent. This is due to the fact that indigenous knowledge (IK) related to use of plant for healthcare maintenance is the reflection of the types and density of flora and fauna found in a given locality and the cultural background of the society in that area (Figures 4 and 5).
In the present report Lawsonia inermis L. shade dried leaves is used with other ingredients in the preparation of mouth ulcers treating medicine but in previously Maji Jose et al., used only fresh leaves. Whereas Jatropha curcas L. latex used in this report while in previously the stem and decoction of leaves used in the treatment of mouth ulcers [10]. The Rajasthanees using Jatropha species in treating routine oral hygiene [11]. Hebber et al., [12] reported 35 plants belonging to 26 families used to treat different oral ailments from Western Ghat region of Dharwad district of Karnataka. Chopra RN et al., [13] reported traditional medicinal plants curing dental caries. Cinnamon plant parts have been reported and authentically inhibit the growth of oral microbes [14]. Sonowal Kachari [15] reported two medicinal plants for mouth washing from tribe of Dibrugarh district in Assam. The present report maximum is not being correlated with the previous review data of Pradeep Kumar R [16], where 120 species of plants from 46 families recorded. So that it would be the considered a novel publication.  Cuminum cyminum L. HMVS-74 Apiaceae Seed Jeera 2-3 spoons of jeera soaked in 50 ml of water with (Navothu/ misri) type of sugar over night and take with empty stomach for a week.

Marri chettu
Terminal buds chewing gives relief from mouth ulcers.

Midaku
Terminal buds of Lawsonia and equal amount of jeera were made into smooth paste add two tea spoons of mishre mix well, made small tablets then take daily twice morning with empty stomach and night before going to bed.