Ethno-medicine for Gastrointestinal Diseases by the Savaras of Andhra Pradesh

Exclusive studies on gastrointestinal diseases by the Savaras , a primitive tribal group in Andhra Pradesh are not reported necessitating the present investigation. The study yielded 102 species of pants covering 92 genera and 53 families used for curing gastrointestinal ailments. Fabaceae is the dominant family with 7 species followed by Apocynaceae, Euphorbiaceae (6 each); Caesalpiniaceae, Rutaceae, Rubiaceae, Liliaceae (4 each) and others. Herbs are dominant (42.15%) followed by trees (33.33%), shrubs (14.70%) and climbers (9.80%). Leaf is used in maximum practices (26.97%) followed by root (21.71%), stem bark (13.81%), seed and whole plant (7.89% each), root bark (5.26%), rhizome (3.36%), bulb (2.63%), stem and gum (1.31% each) and others. Allmania nodiflora , Tephrosia procumbens and 66 practices were found to be new or less known.