Ethnobotanical Uses Of Aroids By The Bodo People Of Baksa District, Assam

Abstract

The study provides an ethnobotanical survey of aroid plants (family Araceae) used by the Bodo community in the Baksa District, Assam, India in a comprehensive manner. It is situated along the Brahmaputra River and its affluent biodiversity and traditional ecological knowledge is life in the district. In the intensive fieldwork, interview, and specimen collecting, it was able to record the existence of 28 species of aroids in 10 genera both cultivated and wild. Out of them, 9 species are grown for different purposes and 4 species are mostly grown as ornamentals due to the beautiful foliage.

Ethnobotanically these species were found to have various uses, 21 of which are used in the traditional medicine, 18 are consumed as food, 15 in the ritual of bathing the elephant to skin irritation, 9 in the use as fodder to pigs. More so, fishing uses 2 species and 2 other time in traditional games of children. Some are versatile in their uses- the Alocasia macrorrhizos and Homalomena aromatica are of popular use in preparing the Napam, a fermented fish delicacy, whereas Colocasia species are widely used and some also find use in the medical field. The remedies are in treatment of skin diseases, cough, wounds, piles, postpartum recovery and animal health care.

Methods of harvesting, detoxifying and processing aroids, including roasting in the sun, cooking in acidic fruits such as tomatoes to leech out the irritant calcium oxalate, all form part of local knowledge systems. This study identifies the ecological and cultural value of aroids of the Bodo community and thus stressed the dire situation of the unfavorable environmental and socio-economic condition that threatens the loss of indigenous knowledge of this area.