Healing the tribal way: ethno-medicinal formulations used by the tribes of Jharkhand, India.

Situated in the eastern part of India, the state of Jharkhand is a hotspot for traditional ethno -medicinal wisdom owing to a significant percentage of tribal popul ation, rich floristic diversity, sub humid sub tropical climate and plateau topography. Ethno-medico-botanical surveys were conducted by the NBPGR Regional Station Ranchi in the East Singhbhum, Simdega, Latehar and Gumla districts of the state having signi ficant tribal population, to collect the trad i- tional knowledge about medicinal uses of the indigenous plants. A total of 58 herbal formulations used in 39 different disorders are documented in this paper. The formulations comprise of 80 plant species belon ging to 50 families. The pa- per also discusses the incidence and specificity of the prevalent disorders and trend in the complexity of the herbal fo r- mulations used by the native people .