Abstract:

Several hundred plants of Indian ethnobotanical heritage also occur in distant foreign lands. The objective was to see if any of the selected 50 plants of traditional medicine in India are also used, and if so, how, among the indigenous societies of Africa, China, West Indies and Latin America. The analysis was done for seven diseases namely malaria, leprosy, jaundice, diabetes, fertility, cardiac and skin diseases. Over 75 medicinal uses relating to 43 species among the foreign native folk seem new or not widely recorded in Indian ethnomedicinal literature. They provide material for further work for use in India. Over 70 uses relating to 35 species are almost common to Indian and these foreign ethnic groups. This suggests greater credibility for medicinal efficacy of those species. It is discussed that excessive extraction of root and bark drugs can endanger natural populations.