International Journal of Plant Research

p-ISSN: 2163-2596    e-ISSN: 2163-260X

2015;  5(5): 103-106

doi:10.5923/j.plant.20150505.02

Survey of Common Poisonous Plants of Birbhum, Burdwan, and Nadia Districts of West Bengal, India

Arindam Sikdar1, Amit Kumar Mondal2, Kumar Rajan3, Naveen Tripathi1

1Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, West Bengal, India

2Department of Zoology (Centre for Advanced Studies), Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India

3Environmental Science School of Earth Biological and Environmental Sciences, Central University of South Bihar, BIT Campus Patna, Bihar, India

Correspondence to: Naveen Tripathi, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

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Copyright © 2015 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

Poisonous plants can be of immense economic importance. Several poisonous plants can be a source of medicines. Research on poisonous plants of East India is largely missing. With paucity of information about poisonous plants in West Bengal, India, we conducted a survey of common local plants, such that they can be later utilized for economic purposes. The survey of tribal villages in 3 districts of West Bengal resulted in identification of 27 poisonous plants that are presented in the paper.

Keywords: Poisonous plants, Poisonous action, Constituents, Birbhum, Burdwan, Nadia

Cite this paper: Arindam Sikdar, Amit Kumar Mondal, Kumar Rajan, Naveen Tripathi, Survey of Common Poisonous Plants of Birbhum, Burdwan, and Nadia Districts of West Bengal, India, International Journal of Plant Research, Vol. 5 No. 5, 2015, pp. 103-106. doi: 10.5923/j.plant.20150505.02.

Article Outline

1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
4. Conclusions and Discussion
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1. Introduction

The knowledge of poisonous plants in all over the world is useful for two main reasons. Firstly, the concern for humans and animals health due to its consumption and secondly, poisonous plants present a potential source for discovery of novel medicines. Plant poisons usually are mixture of different compounds and eventual isolation of the individual components was the driving motivation for this study.

2. Materials and Methods

The study area included regions of Nadia, Birbhum and Bardhaman. We specifically targeted tribal villages for this work. The climate of these regions is tropical savanna and sub-tropical in nature. Plants were identified, photographed and collected. The collected specimen were dried and preserved in the herbarium sheet after spraying 0.2% mercuric chloride. Our survey relied on detailed conversations and field observations. An average interview with village elders in the tribal villages lasted around 15 minutes.

3. Results

The survey lasted 4 months. Several plants encountered in one village were also found in another village. All these plants were common to all the three districts that were studied. Although few supposedly active ingredients have been identified in these plants, we ignored their mention as none of them have been established to be the main active ingredient or even causal to symptoms of poisoning. The plants encountered in our survey are arranged alphabetically in a tabular form in table 1. Figure 1 shows pictures of some of the common poisonous plants encountered in this study.
Table 1. List of poisonous plants surveyed in the survey of tribal villages of Nadia, Birbhum and Bardhaman
Figure 1.

4. Conclusions and Discussion

The poisonous plants of India have been described (Jain 1991, 1999; Caius 2003) before but specific examination of the three districts of West Bengal, explored in this study, has not been conducted. In contrast, Rajasthan has witnessed extensive survey of plants, including poisonous plants (Bahndari, 1978; Shetty and Singh, 1993; Joshi, 1995; Singh and Pandey, 1998; Katewa et al, 2001; Katewa et al, 2003; Katewa et al, 2004; Katewa et al, 2006; Jain et al, 2004; Jain et al, 2005; Katewa and Galav, 2005; 2006). Our study is the first of its kind to start exploring the poisonous plants of this region. We expect detailed quantitative studies that are exhaustive in nature to follow this. We also expect a thrust in the area of isolation of active ingredients from these plants.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported by Visva Bharati and IISER-K. We are thankful to Prof. Sudhendu Mandal, and Prof. Subrata Mondal. Salary of personal involved in this research was paid partly by the funds of Dr. Sukant Khurana at IISER-K. We would like to acknowledge Nabajit Das, visiting scientist at the Department of Biological Sciences (DBS), IISER Kolkata for his valued feedback on the manuscript and making the paper to publishing.

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