Ethnobotany of a threatened medicinal plant “Indravan” (Cucumis callosus) from central India Panwar NS1,*, Pradheep K1, Bhatt KC1, Deswal RPS2 1National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi -110012, India 2CCS HAU Regional Research Station, Bawal, Haryana, India *Corresponding author: NS Panwar e-mail: nspanwar@nbpgr.ernet.in
Abstract Indravan, Cucumis callosus (Rottler) Cogn is a native wild medicinally important species. During an exploration trip for collecting cucurbit genetic resources in the tribal tracts of eastern Madhya Pradesh in October 2013, information on the use of this species as a traditional medicinal plant was gathered from Gond and Baiga tribes inhabiting forest areas of Anuppur, Dindori and Shahdol districts. The scientific name (Cucumis callosus) was earlier misapplied to a taxon, occurring under semi-wild condition in crop fields, C. melo L. var. agrestis (Naudin) Pangalo. Hence, the botanical identity of Indravan material as C. callosus was confirmed through field, herbarium and literature studies. The ethno-medicinal use of this species was recorded from old-experienced folk, ojhas and vaidyas, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Top Keywords Ethnobotany, Cucumis callosus, threatened plant, medicinal uses. Top |