Study on medicinal plants

available in our locality and its

uses
Name &address of group leader and group members:
1. Archana P Mallya
10/173 SJD (north) street;
Amaravathy, kochi - 01

2. Neena Maria M Jojo

Cc 17/1183 A
Edapattu(H), mundemveli

3. V Vineeth Kumar
9/830 A, SreeNivas
Pandikudy, kochi-2

4. Mennt Thankachan
21/1345, Puttenvettil(H)
Choice rd, Palluruthy, Kochi

5. Rakhi R Nath
Name & address of guide:
Mrs. Anusree Mol
KV quarters 2/6
KV INS Dronacharya

23rd NATIONAL CHILDRENS SCIENCE CONGRESS 2015

STATE: Kerala

sl no. /code

LANGUAGE: English
Title: STUDY ON MEDICINAL PLANTS AVAILABLE IN OUR LOCALITY AND ITS USES
Archana P Mallya, Neena Maria M Jojo, V Vineeth Kumar, Menny Tankachan, Rakhi R Nath
Kendriya Vidyalaya INS Dronacharya, Mundemveli, kochi- 682507
Since medical science has progressed leaps and bounds in the past few decades, people at the very
onset of diseases go for medical care. But this indiscriminate use of medicines has toxic effects and it
spoils our health permanently. Hence there should be health awareness among children, making them
realize the value of natural remedies. This was the mission our group embarked upon. Our aim in
doing this project was to study about the medicinal plants available in our locality and study its uses
and growth seasons. We prepared herbarium of few plants, which can turn out to show magical results
in curing some diseases and we taught about the most useful and cost effective treatments for
frequently effecting disease. At first we collected primary data from various sources like books, elders,
internet etc identified some samples for our study and conducted filed study to collect these plants and
studied about their medicinal properties. We conducted a survey and found out that the people in our
locality were aware about the usage of these medicinal plants. Simple experiments were conducted. We
gave our friend suffering from cough, the thulasi and pannikoorka extract and observed that it was
really effective and did not have any side-effects. Application of murikootti extract on a wound had
helped in healing the wound. Application of warm vettila during mucus infection helped in loosening
the phelgem. From the suvey and experiments we found out that usage of plants as medicines did
magic in healing some diseases. For umpteen number of diseases cure lies nowhere far than in our
kitchen. Moreover we were able to come to a conclusion that any disease needs professional medical
care, but the first aid provided by our traditional knowledge would, without hesitation, be a life saver.

Name & address of Guide Teacher:

Mrs. Anusree mol
KV quarters 2/6
KV INS Dronacharya

Contents:

INTRODUCTION:
Before there was modern-day medicine and its pharmacopeia of
synthetic drugs, there were plants, and ancient civilizations knew
how to use them strategically to treat common ailments and even
life-threatening diseases. About 80% people of the world,
particularly in the rural areas of developing countries, continue
using traditional resources in healthcare. Plants are always
considered as a primary source of drugs in traditional and alternative
system of medicine in various forms suchascrudeform,juice,
decoction,andcrudeextracts.Negligencebytheyouthalso
influencesthetraditionalknowledge.Therefore,itisnecessaryto
discoveranddocumentthisexceptional,original,andconventional
information,beforeitdisappearswiththeknowledgeablepersons.

AIMS&OBJECTIVES:
Tostudyaboutthemedicinalplantsavailableinourlocality
andtostudyaboutitsuses.
Identification and documentation of plant species
used for the treatment of various diseases and
ailments in the study area.
Tocollecttheseplantsandtoprepareaherbariumofthem,so
thatitwillbeeasyforotherstoidentifythem.
Tostudyfactorsofweatherthatmayinfluenceonthe
availabilityoftheseplants
Tofindoutthemostusefulandcosteffectivetreatmentsfor
frequentlyeffectingdiseaseslikecommoncold,cough,
injuries,stomachache,bodyacheetc.
Tocreateawarenessamongthehouseholdsaboutthe
impendingsideeffectsoffrequentlyusingallopathicmedicine
likeparacetamol,calpol,niacin,andothercoughsyrupsetc

HYPOTHESIS:
Thetraditionalmethodsofusingmedicinalplantsaremore
effectiveforcuringsomediseases.

NEEDSTATEMENT&RELEVANCE:
Herbs tend to be greatly misunderstood. One of the first ways that
people think when they want to restore health is allopathically.
Allopathic means that a disease or condition is treated with a
substance that causes the opposite effect of the symptoms. Allopathy
works to address symptoms. Symptoms are the bodys way of
reporting an imbalance. Merely treating the symptoms does not
address the cause of the imbalance. Treating just the symptoms
tends to result in greater imbalance sometime in the future.
It is in this scenario that we need to plough up our long buried
valuable knowledge of traditional medicines which was from time
immemorial, a one stop destination for any cure man sought out.

METHODOLOGY:
Periodic Collection of primary data from various books,
identifying of samples from the locality, compilation of the data
and its brief study.
Field study by collection of the identified samples.
Brief study about the medicinal properties of the identified
samples.
Study about local name of plants, taxonomic diversity, parts of
the plant used, etc.
Conducting survey in our locality to know the usage of
medicinal plants in households.
Comparison of the survey data with the help of graphs and piecharts.
Checking the correctness of our hypothesis with the help of
simple experiments.

Observations
We noticed that intake of thulasi and panikoorka extract and
adalodakam juice by our friend was effective in completely
curing his cough and throat pain. He did not feel any sort of
drowsiness after drinking the preparation.
Application of murikootti extract on the wound was effective in
healing the injured leg of a boy.
Application of warm beetle leaves on the chest of patient
helped in loosening the phelgem formed due to mucus
infection.
From the simple experiments and the survey conducted by us we
observed that some medicinal plants were very effective in curing
cough, stomach ache, head ache, body ache, minor injuries and
burns etc.

Photo.

Data analysis and interpretation:

Pie chart and other graphs and information of survey

Results:
Traditional methods of using medicinal plants could heal minor
injuries. We found that application of murikootti on wound helped in
healing the injury even though it is a bit painful. Application of
warm beetle on chest reduced mucus infection, and drinking thulasi/
panikoorka extract or chukku-kurumulakku kashayam cure cough
and cold. Thus we found that there are many methods which can be
used as substitutes of allopathic medicines and they will not have
any side-effects.

Conclusion:
Herbs are always considered as a very important source of medicine
because of the high cost and difficult accessibility to modern
medicine. Our study was limited to our nearby localities but still we
found that many of the people were aware about the traditional
methods of using medicinal plants, but still, the youngsters did not
have much idea about medicinal plants and their uses. Traditional
knowledge of the area is greatly affected due to modernization and
other factors and there is an urgent need to protect the cultural
heritage and traditional knowledge of the natives. Also there is a
need for special attention to the potential plants of the area which
are on the verge of extinction due to urbanization and rising
standards of living.

Solution to the problem:

The problem that we identified is the adverse effects of using
allopathic medicines. The medicines prescribed by the medical
professionals are indeed good for curing them, but in turn makes the
patient susceptible to other diseases due to the impending side
effects such as drowsiness, allergy, etc that the medicines carries
with it. There are a number advantages associated with using herbal
medicines as opposed to pharmaceutical products. Most medicinal
plants have fewer unintended consequences than pharmaceutical
drugs and are safer to use over time. Another advantage of medicinal
plants is the cost. Widespread availability of medicinal plants makes
them more convenient than prescription medicines. We can even
grow few plants in our garden. This enables us to minimize our
dependence on allopathic medications.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

REFERENCE:
http://www.botanicalonline.com/english/importanceofmedicinalplants.htm
http://www.social-peek.com/Keywords/shalusblog.blogspot.in

aahaarathille oushadagunangal by Dr. K R Raman Namboothiri

adbhuta oushada chedigal by Dr K R Raman Nambootiri
jeevithashyliyum aarogyavum by Kerala Shastra Sahitya
Parishad.
chedigalum avayude oushadagunangalum by V V Balakrishnan
Tips for healthy living from a Mothers dairy by Rema Nair
Medicinal plants H&C Publications
Shastra Keralam monthly.