An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants used against Jaundice by Tea Tribes of Morigaon District, Assam (India)

The present study was conducted to document the ethnomedicinal plants used against jaundice by the tea tribes of Morigaon district of Assam, India. An ethnomedicinal field study was carried out from June 2016 July 2017. Information was gathered by using a semi-structured questionnaire about the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used against jaundice by the tea tribes of Morigaon district of Assam. Documented data was evaluated using the quantitative ethno-botanical indices of fidelity level (FL), Use Value (UV) and Family Use Value (FUV). From the ethno-botanical investigation, a total of 39 species of plants covering 36 genera and 27 families respectively have been enumerated. A total of 53 informants aged from 20-75 years were interviewed to record the ethnomedicinal data. Lamiaceae was the dominant family. Among the plant portions, leaves were most frequently used. Among the 39 medicinal plant species recognized mostly were herbs. The plants species having the highest use value were Drymaria cordata trailed by Xylosma longifolia and Achyranthes aspera, Aegle marmelos, Alstonia scholaris and Justicia gendarussa. The fidelity level was 100% for Achyranthes aspera, Cheilocostus speciosus, Clerodendrum infortunatum, Justicia gendarussa, Lawsonia inermis, Coffea benghalensis and Saccharum officinarum. The tea tribes of Morigaon district still relies on herbal therapies for curing jaundice. Coffea benghalensis has not been previously reported as a remedy of jaundice from Northeast India. Further research is needed to investigate the phytochemistry and pharmacological effectiveness of the plant species that could be the basis for the isolation and development of some novel phyto-therapeutic active compounds in the future. DOI: 10.18311/jnr/2020/23879


Introduction
Ethno-medicine has evolved and developed since the prehistoric period. Traditional medicine is still the main source for treating health related problems around the planet 1 . Despite globalization and modernization, about 60-85% of the world's population in the developing countries relies on natural and traditional medicine 2 . According to WHO, around 21,000 plant species have been estimated which can be potentially used for medicinal purpose 3,4 . Ethnic groups store an immense knowledge on traditional herbal medicine and this need to be properly documented 5 . Ethnobotanical studies are the key sources for the discovery of novel drugs from the plant species 6 . India is considered as the leading producer of medicinal plants and represents one of the greatest reservoirs of ethno-botanical wealth 7,8 . Nearly, 65% of the Indian population depends on traditional therapies 9 . North-east India including Assam is considered as the paradise for anthropologists and ethno-botanists as it has a rich vegetation wealth due to topographic and climatic specificity and is among the most diverse regions in the world with more than 150 tribes existing and the tea tribes are one among them 10,11 .
Jaundice is a complex ailment caused due to the malfunctioning of the liver, which results in the excessive level of yellow-orange bile pigment i.e. bilirubin, which gets deposited in the tissues of skin, mucous membranes and the sclera 12 . The word jaundice is a derivative of French word 'Jaune' that means 'yellow' . The causes of jaundice are either acquired or congenital 13 . Jaundice is a symptom rather than a disease. There are several possible causes of jaundice viz., hepatitis (A, B, C, D and E), obstruction of bile ducts, liver cirrhosis, gall-bladder stones, inflammation of the liver, pancreatic cancer, alcoholic liver disease, tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria, haemolytic anaemia, yellow fever, certain medication, neonatal jaundice and pregnancy. A large number of plant species claim to possess the liver protecting activity 14 . Almost 160 phyto-compounds from 101 plants claim to possess the hepatoprotective activity 15 . The tea garden community of Assam uses a number of self-remedial medications and herbal therapies for the treatment of jaundice. This acquired knowledge about the traditional medicinal plants may be helpful for developing new medicines for Jaundice by identifying novel bioactive compounds 16 . The chief objective of the study was to measure and document the richness of indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants against jaundice used by the tea tribes of Morigaon district of Assam, so that the documented plant species can be used for phytochemical and pharmacological discoveries in the future.

Study Area and the People
An explorative investigation was undertaken in the tea gardens of Morigaon district of Assam, which is located in the central region of Assam.  17,18 . The main languages spoken by the tea tribes are Assamese, Baganiya bhasa / Tea tribal language (amalgamation of Bengali, Oriya and Shadri languages). The major sources of livelihood for the tea tribes are working as laborers in the tea gardens and also as traditional herbal practitioners (bej). The present communication provides results of indigenous uses of phyto-medicines against jaundice used by the tea tribes of the Morigaon district.

Documentation and Collection of Ethnomedicinal Data
Extensive field surveys conducted in the tea gardens of Morigaon district during June 2016 -September 2017 and maximum information provided by the tea tribes were collected ( Figure 1). In total 53 informants were interviewed within the age group of 20-75 years. The information was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires, interviews, consultations and group discussions on the medicinal use of the plants against jaundice and detailed information about mode of preparation (i.e., decoction, infusion, juice or extract, paste, powder and external use) was documented 19,20 .
Prior permission was sought from the concerned authorities of the tea gardens for the collection of the ethnomedicinal data along with the plants and also the related plant parts required from the study area. Before proceeding with the interview, consent of the respondents was also obtained to carry out the study. The collected specimens were processed and mounted in a herbarium using convenient techniques and were cross-checked and identified with the help of relevant floras and were matched at the Gauhati University Herbarium and Nowgong College Herbarium and then their identity was confirmed 21,22 . Nomenclatures of plants were updated using The Plant List and the specimens are deposited at Department of Botany, Nowgong College (Nagaon) for future references 23 . All the recorded plant species are presented in tabular format, alongside the family, common names and the ethnomedicinal usage information.

Quantitative Analysis of Ethnomedicinal Data
An illustrative method of using the frequencies and percentages was used to evaluate the socio-demographic data of the informants. The ethnomedicinal usage of plants was quantitatively accessed using the Fidelity Level (FL), Use Value (UV) and Family Use Value (FUV).

Fidelity Level (FL)
The Fidelity Level (FL) was calculated to determine the percentage of informants who mentioned the uses of certain plant species to treat a particular ailment in the study area.
Where, lp is the number of informants who independently claimed the utilization of a plant species for the same major ailment and lu is the number of informants who mentioned the plant for any major ailment 24, 25 .

Use Value (UV)
The Use Value (UV) determines the relative importance of plants known in locally. It was calculated using the following formula 26 .
Where, U i is the number of uses mentioned by each informant for a given species and N is the total number of informants.

Family Use Value (FUV)
The significance of the plant families were identified by calculating the Family Use Value (FUV) using the following formula 27 .
Where, UVs is the use value of the species and Ns is the total number of species within each family.

Socio-Demographic Data of the Study
A total of 53 informants have participated in the present study. The age groups of the informants were confined between 20 and 75 years are represented in Table 1.
A total of 53 informants were interviewed and all were indigenous people with ages ranging from 20 years to 75 years (Table 1). They comprised of 73.58% men 26.41% women. A large number of people were in the age of 50-60 years (33.96%) and 40-50 years (24.52%). Most of the people in the study area were laborers (79.24%) and traditional health practitioners (13.2%). Regarding the level of education, 67.92 % were illiterate and 32.07 % were literate.

Plant Species, Botanical Families, Mode of Remedy Preparation and Quantitative Values
The plant species recorded in the present study are arranged in an alphabetical order and are enumerated along with their correct botanical names, family, parts used, mode of preparation, and route of administration, UV and FL are summarized in Table 2. A total of 39 medicinal plants belonging to 36 genera and 27 families recorded to be used by the tea tribes as a remedy for jaundice in the study area. The medicinal plant species documented from the study were distributed amongst 27 families and 36 genera. The highest numbers of plants were documented in the family Lamiaceae (5) followed by Leguminosae (3) and Acanthaceae (2), Oxalidaceae (2), Phyllanthaceae (2), Piperaceae (2), Poaceae (2) and Rutaceae (2) shown in Figure 2. Plant parts used by the tea tribes to treat jaundice were mainly aerial part, leaf, stem, bark of stem, fruit, rhizome, root, bark of root and whole plant. The most frequently used plant portion for the traditional remedies was the leaf (35.89%) trailed by fruit (17.94%), stem and whole plant (12.82%), aerial part of plant, rhizome, root (5.12%), calyx, flower, seed, stem bark and root bark (2.56%) (Figure 3). There is no specific time to collect the plant materials used for herbal therapy as reported by the informants of the study area. Amongst the 39 medicinal plant species recognized, 33.33 % are herbs followed by shrubs and trees (25.64%) and lastly climbers and under-shrubs (7.69%) ( Figure 4).
Several forms of remedial preparation are used by the tea tribes in the study area and the most frequently used preparation was juice or extract with 43.58 % trailed by infusions (20.51 %), paste (15.38%), decoction and powder (7.69%), concoction and garland (5.12%) ( Figure 5). The commonly used route of administration was oral (94.87%) followed by external or topical use (2.56 %) and both oral and external use (2.56%).
Most of the plants documented during the field study are wild in nature and are also available in the estates, residences, roadside, river-side and in hills and forest. Aloe vera, Averrhoa carambola, Cajanas cajan, Curcuma longa, Hibiscus sabdariffa, Lawsonia inermis, Mentha arvensis, Passiflora edulis, Piper nigrum, Saccharum officinarum are mainly cultivated      in the study area. During the field study, systematic and proper care was taken in the collection methods. This is the first quantitative ethnobotanical study conducted in this study area The highest UV ranked the Drymaria cordata (0.22) first, followed by Xylosma longifolia (0.17), Achyranthes aspera, Aegle marmelos, Alstonia scholaris and Justicia gendarussa (0.15) as second and third respectively. The Family Use Value (FUV) ranged between the lowest values (0.05) and the highest value (0.30). Lamiaceae family (0.30) was the highest FUV trailed by Caryophyllaceae (0.22) and Rutaceae (0.18) shown in Table 3. The high values of UV and FUV can be explained by the fact that these plants are highly used and acknowledged by the majority of the informants in the study area. The Fidelity Level (FL) of the recorded plants have been calculated which showed the highest percentage of 100% for Achyranthes aspera, Cheilocostus speciosus, Clerodendrum infortunatum, Justicia gendarussa, Lawsonia inermis, Coffea benghalensis and Saccharum officinarum followed by Drymaria cordata (90.9%) and Aegle marmelos (87.5%).
In Morigaon district, jaundice is a common problem among the tea tribes due to their poor food habits, preventive care, and hygiene. They have gained the traditional knowledge on medicinal plants from the elders of their family and the village chiefs by word of mouth. However, there is a threat to the indigenous knowledge due to modernization; the knowledge may eventually be lost following the decease of the elderly and knowledgeable inhabitants of the study area. The documentation of this traditional knowledge is valuable for the indigenous people and their future generations for the wider use of the plants against jaundice. The majority of the informants were males (73.58%) and females (26.41%). Most of the ethno-pharmacological studies confirm that leaves are the major parts used for treating jaundice and resembles the present study 14,28,29 . Most informants preferred to use fresh juice or extract of the plants to treat jaundice. The plants used by the informants are mostly wild in nature (71.8%) while the cultivated plants represent only (28.2%).

Conclusion
The field studies carried out in the tea gardens of Morigaon district have led to the documentation of ethnomedicinal uses for 39 plant species. The reports provided by the tea tribal people of the study area, certainly increases the validity of the said purpose. From the above results and discussions, the tea tribes of the Morigaon district are still dependent on wild plants to cure jaundice. From the best of our knowledge Coffea benghalensis has not been reported earlier as a remedy for jaundice from Northeast India. The most widely used plants against jaundice recorded in this study such as Drymaria cordata, Xylosma longifolia, Achyranthes aspera, Cheilocostus speciosus, Clerodendrum infortunatum, Justicia gendarussa, Lawsonia inermis, Coffea benghalensis, Saccharum officinarum and Aegle marmelos and some plant species that have not yet been analyzed for the hepatoprotective properties should be prioritized for further phytochemical and pharmacological studies to identify the unknown compounds and their functional groups. Isolation of the bioactive compounds and elucidation of their

Acknowledgements
We are highly indebted to the tea tribe people of the selected study area for sharing their valuable indigenous knowledge. Prof. D. Borthakur from Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawai'i at Manoa is highly acknowledged for his invaluable support in the present work. We thank Dr. Smarajit Ojah from the Department of Geography of Nowgong Girls' College (Nagaon) for drawing the Morigaon district geographical map.

Conflict of Interests
No conflict of interest.