National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Pusa Campus, New Delhi-110 012.
The maria and muria tribal communities living in Abujhmarh area in Narayanpur taluka of Bastar, Madhya Pradesh (India) mostly depend on the natural resources of their neighbouring forests for food, medicine and for other material culture and local rural technology. They use many plants in their religious ceremonies also. The Abujhmarh area is ethnobotanically under-explored. This paper deals with the ethnobotany of 35 plants from there. The information was derived from the specimens of pltmts and plant parts collected by the author during several explorations in the area (1986–1990) and by having interviews and discussions with the tribals. Vernacular names are also mentioned. A survey was conducted among medicinal plant sellers and local people of the area and 5 recipes and their use in fertility cult, menstural problems, birth control and in deriving stimulation etc. were discussed.
