Medicinal plant diversity of Sri Nemali Gundam Ranganayaka Swamy sacred grove, Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh, India

The present investigation was carried out to explore medicinal plant resources of the sacred grove, popularly called, Sri Nemaligundam Ranganayaka Swamy temple, Giddalur, Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh, India. A total of 60 species belonging to 50 genera and 33 families were recorded from the study area. The collected crude drug samples were systematically analyzed and enumerated with botanical name, family, local name, part used, purpose of use and mode of preparation/administration. Among the 28 ailments recorded in the region, skin diseases are most prevalent in the study area cured with 10 species, followed by leucorrhoea (5 spp.) and diabetes (5 spp.). The part wise analysis revealed that the leaf samples were used in majority of drug samples (20 spp.) used by the tribal/rural people. The decoction was found to be the most common mode of drug preparation administered by the local adivasis in the study area. In conclusion the present study area is rich in medicinal plant diversity and some of them are rare, endemic and endangered species. There is an urgent need to protect and conserve such RET medicinal plants before their extinction. Further, the study recommends the potential medicinal plants for its phytochemical and pharmacological evaluation, that will be useful to pharmaceutical industries, in identifying novel bioactive components and also in popularization of traditional knowledge for better health care system.