Ethnobotanical and Morphological variations of Mahakaal (Trichosanthes tricuspidata Lour.) in three geographical zones of Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest, Odisha

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Ethnobotanical and Morphological variations of Mahakaal (Trichosanthes tricuspidata  Lour.) in three geographical zones of Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest, Odisha

Prakash Kumar Tripathy, Sanjeet Kumar, Shanti Prava Behera and P. K. Jena

Department of Botany, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack- 753003, Odisha

Abstract

Simlipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR) forest is situated in the district of Mayurbhanj, Odisha. It is spreading over an area of 5,569 km² lying between 21⁰ 10’ to 22⁰ 12’ N and 85⁰ 58’ to 86⁰ 42’E. SBR is a treasure of medicinal plants. Among them wild cucurbits are common which are frequently used as medicine by the aboriginals of SBR. The common cucurbits are Trichosanthes tricuspidata (Lour.), Trichosanthes cucumerina (L.), Cucumis melo (L.), Diplocyclos palmatus (L.) Jeffrey., Solena amplexicaulis (Lam.), Mukia maderaspatana (L.), Luffa aegyptiaca (Mill.) etc. Among them Trichosanthes tricuspidata (Lour.) is common and very popular due to its red attractive fruits. It is locally known as Mahakaal. It is a climber commonly found over tree. It has white flowers with reddish fruits when ripen. It has sound ethnobotanical values. Fruits are used in asthma, leprosy and rheumatism. Seed are effective against fever. Mankardia tribal community use its fruit paste against eczema. Kharia tribe use the seeds for abortion. Richness of Mahakaal is declining at SBR due to anthropogenic activities. Therefore an attempt was made to study the therapeutic medicinal values and morphological variations in three locations Gurguria, Nawana and Karanjia of SBR. Ampelographic and ampelometric study of leaf, flower and fruits character were carried out during 2010-2012. Fruit colour varied from Blood Red to Pink. Flower dimension varied from 2.4 to 3 inches. Leaf varied from 5.0 × 4.0 to 6.0 × 5.0 inches. Size of fruits varied from 5.44 × 5.01 to 6.24 × 5.82 cm. The number of seeds per fruit varied from 65 to 122. Weight of seeds per fruit varied from 61.77 g to 101.34 g. Richness of Mahakaal is more in Karanjia followed by Gurguria and Nawana. Variation of qualitative and quantitative character showed high morphological diversities. Variability of Mahakaal in SBR might be considered for characterising criteria for large gene pool conservation.

Key words: Ethnobotany, Morphological variations, Trichosanthes tricuspidata L., Simlipal

*Corresponding author

Prakash Kumar Tripathy

Email: pkt.botany@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION

Odisha, with its great biodiversity, has a tremendous potential and advantages in the emerging field of herbal medicines. Today the whole world has become increasingly interested in Indian ayurveda and other traditional health systems. The demand for medicinal plants is increasing in both developing and more-developed countries as a result of recognition of the non-narcotic nature, lack of side effects and easy availability of many herbal drugs.  The therapeutic potential of various herbal drugs ranges from the use of parts of plants to simple extracts to isolated active constituents. Among them Trichosanthes tricuspidata is a little-exploited plant with immense medicinal potential in Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest, Odisha. It is belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae (Haines, 1925) and locally known as “Mahakaal” (Fig-1). It is also known as Trichosanthes  palmata Roxb., Trichosanthes bracteata Lam., Trichosanthes pubera Blume. or Modecca bracteata Lam. Trichosanthes tricuspidata is a vine found at an elevation of 1200 to 2300 m.  It ranges from the Eastern Himalayas in India and southern China through southern Japan, Malaysia, and tropical Australia. In Odisha,  it is a large climber, often attaining a height of 9-10 meters. It has a robust stem that is woody below, and has 3-cleft tendrils. The leaves are variable, palmately 3-5 lobed with a cordate base, and the lobes are ovate to oblong with serrate or dentate margins. Male flowers are in axillary 5-10 flowered racemes with large bracts, while the female flowers are solitary. The petals are wedge-shaped, fringed and white in color. The fruits are globose, and when ripe are red with ten orange streaks (Saxena and Brahmam, 1995). Trichosanthes tricuspidata is considered to be medicinally important in several traditional systems. In ayurvedic medicines, the fruits are used in the treatment of asthma, earache and ozoena (intranasal crusting, atrophy and fetid odor). In the Unani system of medicine, the fruits are used as carminative (an agent that relieves flatulence), a purgative, and an abortifacient, to lessen inflammation, cure migraines, and reduce heat of the brain, as a treatment for opthalmia, leprosy (infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae), epilepsy (episodic impairment or loss of consciousness, abnormal motor phenomenon) and rheumatism, (painful local inflammation of joints and muscles) as well as other uses.  The seeds are emetic and a good purgative. In the Thai traditional system of medicine, the plant is used as an anti-fever remedy, a laxative, an anthelmintic as well as in migraine treatment (. Kanchanapoom et al., 2002). The roots of the plant are used to treat lung diseases in cattle and for the treatment of diabetic carbuncles and headaches.  An extract of the fruits of this plant was found to be cytotoxic and two new cucurbitacins were reported: tricuspidatin and 2-O-glucocucurbitacin (. Mai et al., 1994). Therefore an attempt was made to document ethnobotanical values and variations of Mahakaal at Simlipal Biosphere Reserve forest.

METHODOLOGY

Data collections were made following Christian and Brigitte, (2004) followed by field survey, taxonomic characterization and interaction with tribal community.

Study area

Simlipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR) Forest is hub of medicinal plants of the district Mayurbhanj. The central part of the district is mainly a hilly tract, from which two ranges of hills run forming a fertile valleys known as Simlipal. It is close to the interstate boundary with West Bengal in the North-East direction and Jharkhand in the North-West.  It is having a compact mass of natural mixed forests such as semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, Sal forest, grass land and Savanna spreading over an area of 5,569 km² lying between 21° 10' to 22° 12' N and 85° 58' to 86° 42' E. SBR drives its name from the abundance of Semul or Red Silk Cotton in this forest. Government of India declared SBR as a biosphere reserve in 1994 and UNESCO added this national park to its list of biosphere reserves in May 2009.The average elevation of SBR is 559.31 meters and at least 12 mountain rivers cut across the reserved forest (Kumar et al., 2012).  The prominent among them are Budhabalanga, Khairi and Deo (Tripathy et. al., 2012). SBR has a mixed type of vegetations such as Orissa semi evergreen forest, tropical moist broadleaf forest, tropical moist deciduous forest, dry deciduous hill forest, high level Sal forest with grassland and Savanna. SBR is a hub of different types of medicinal as well as wild edible plants including tuberous plants. It is rich in tropical evergreen floras like Sal, Sisu, Kurum, Kendu, Mahua, Asan, Similli, Karanja etc. According to last census, there are 10, 000 people living in 65 villages inside SBR forest. They are different types of tribal communities and rural peoples who living in peripheral regions. Bathudi, Bhumija Khairi, Kolha, Munda, Santhal, Saharas and Mankardia are major tribal groups, among them Kharia, Mankardia and Saharas belong to PTGs (Primitive Tribal Groups). They do agriculture for a limited time and depend on forest for their food and medicine. They use fruits, flowers, leaves, bulbils, tubers etc. for livelihood and their daily food requirement and also during the periods of food shortage and famine. They collect and store plant parts as food and medicine for off agriculture or critical time and marketing in local Haat (Weekly Market).

Collection of Ethnobotanical data

An ethnobotanical survey at SBR was carried out from 2010 to 2012. The information on uses as traditional medicine of Trichosanthes tricuspidata was collected through interactions with local communities and their medical practitioners (Fig-2). The medicinal property of plant under study was confirmed by at least 4 informants. Interviews were conducted in the Odia language. Repeated interviews through questionnaires were made in different villages such as Gurguria, Sanuski, Bangriposi, Nawana and Kolha to authenticate the information. Plant material was collected and identified by Authors following the Botany of Bihar and Orissa and Flora of Orissa (Haines, 1921-25, Saxena and Brahmam, 1994- 1996).

Measurement of morphological variations

Collected plant materials from three regions of SBR were measured by slide callipers (Omega Pvt. Ltd.)  and electronic weight machine. Parameters documented were fruit size, fruit colour, number of seeds per fruit, weight of seeds per fruit, flower size, leaf structure and ecology.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Data on Ethnobotanical values (Table 1) and morphological variations (Table-2) of Trichosanthes tricuspidata in Gurguria, Nawana and Karanjia of SBR revealed the importance and diversity of the plant. Collected Information was good source for pharmacological industry.

Table 1: Ethnobotanical values of Mahakaal at Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest, Odisha

Plant Part (s)	Ethnobotany and mode of use(s)	Tribal community	Collection site(s)
Fruit (s)	Ripe fruits pulp juice (about 5ml) is taken twice orally for abortion	Santhal	Jashipur
Seed (s)	10 g seed paste is applied externally against skin infections	Kolho	Sanuski
Leaves	About 25 g of fresh leaf with turmeric paste is used against eczema	Mankirdia	Durdura
Root (s)	About 10 g of roots paste is used against scabies	Kharia	Gurguria

Table 2: Morphological Variations in three selected sites of Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest, Odisha

Collection site	Weight in grams	Size of fruit (L×W)	No. of seeds per fruit	Dry weight of pericarp
Karanjia	101.34	6.25 × 5.82	122	9.49
-do-	63.79	4.98 × 4.93	97	5.45
Gurguria	61.78	5.44 × 5.01	65	6.87
-do-	70.69	5.80  × 4.91	113	4.40
Nawana	53.75	5.15 × 4.75	116	4.94
-do-	28.14	4.39 × 4.48	66	3.69

The major tribal races (Table-3) who had good ethnobotanical knowledge were Santhal, Munda, Ho, Kolha, Bathudi, Mankirdia and Kharia. Fruit colour varied from blood red to pink. Flower dimension varied from 2.4 to 3 inches. Leaf size varied from 5.0 × 4.0 to 6.0 × 5.0 inches (Table-2).

Table 3: Profile of Informants residing at Simlipal Biosphere Reserve Forest, Odisha

Sl. No.	Name of Informants	Sex	Tribal races	Village or Hemlet
1	Sri Thakur Das	Male	Santhal	Jashipur
2	Smt. Janaki Munda	Female	Munda	Jashipur
3	Sri Kusal Ho	Male	Ho	Handipuan
4	Sri Pramod Majhi	-do-	Santhal	Dhangidimuta
5	Sri Nungu Ho	-do-	Ho	Kiadumguri
6	Mangala Majhi	-do-	Santhal	Dur-dura Village
7	Meltha Hembrum	-do-	Kolho	Rugudi-Kadodia
8	Raghunandan Rout	-do-	Bathudi	Angar pada

The size of fruits varied from 5.44 × 5.01 to 6.24 × 5.82. Number of seeds per fruit varied from 65 to 122. Weight of seeds per fruit varied from 61.77 to 101.34. Richness of Mahakaal is more in Karanjia followed by Gurguria and Nawana (Table-2). Variation of qualitative and quantitative character showed high morphological diversities. Variability of Mahakaal in SBR might be considered for characterising criteria for large gene pool conservation.

REFERENCES

Kanchanapoom T, K Ryoji and K Yamasaki (2002) Cucurbitane, hexanorcucurbitane and octanorcucurbitane glycosides from fruits of Trichosanthes tricuspidata. Phytochemistry 59:215-228.

Mai le P, D Guenard, M Franck, TM Van, C Gaspard and T Sevenet (1994) New cytotoxic cucurbitacins from the pericarps of Trichosanthes tricuspidata fruits. Natural Product Letters 16(1):15-19

Saxena, H.O. and Brahmam, M. (1994-1996). Flora of Orissa, Regional Research Laboratory and Orissa Forest Development Corporation Ltd., Bhubaneswar. 1-4): 2918 pp.

Christian. R.V. and Brigitte, V.L. (2004). Tools and methods for data collection in Ethnobotanical Studies of Homegardens. Field Method, 16(3): 285-306.

Haines, H.H. (1921-1925). The Botany of Bihar and Orissa, Adlard & Son and West Newman Ltd. London.