Ethnobotanical plants of Veligonda Hills , Southern Eastern Ghats , Andhra Pradesh , India

drskmbasha@gmail.com Abstract The Veligonda range which separates the Nellore district from Kadapa and Kurnool is the back bone of the Eastern Ghats, starting from Nagari promontory in Chittoor district. It runs in a northerly direction along the western boarders of the Nellore district, raising elevation of 3,626 feet at Penchalakona in Rapur thaluk. Veligonda hill ranges have high alttudinal and deep valley. These hills have rich biodiversity and many rare, endangered, endemic and threatned plants are habituated in these hills. The present paper mainly deals with the ethanobotanical plants used by local people.


Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 80% of the population of developing countries relies on traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, for their primary healthcare needs.Also, modern pharmacopoeia still contains at least 25% drugs derived from plants and many others which are synthetic analogues built on prototype compounds isolated from plants.Demand for medicinal plant is increasing in both developing and developed countries due to growing recognition of natural products, being non-narcotic, having no side-effects, easily available at affordable prices and sometime the only source of health care available to the poor.
It is evident that the Indian people have tremendous passion for medicinal plants and use them for wide range of health related applications from a common cold to memory improvement and treatment of poisonous snake bites to a cure for muscular dystrophy and the enhancement of body's general immunity.In the oral traditions, local communities in every ecosystem from the Trans Himalayas down to the coastal plains have discovered the medical uses of thousands of plants found locally in their ecosystem.India has one of the richest plant medical cultures in the world.It is a culture that is of tremendous contemporary relevance because it can on one hand ensure health security to millions of people and on the other hand it can provide new and safe herbal drugs to the entire world.There are estimated to be around 25000 effective plant based formulations used in folk medicine and known to rural communities all over India and around 10000 designed formulations are available in the indigenous medical texts.

Study area
Eastern Ghats are one of the nine major floristic zones of India possessing rich and diversified plant wealth due to undulated topography and availability of rich humus content.The forests of Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh are inhabited with 33 tribal 9 groups (Tribal Welfare Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, 2011).They contain valuable information regarding therapeutic properties of commonly used crude drugs for different human and veterinary ailments which was recorded and critically analyzed with the help of literature as well as field observations.Based on these observations some potential drug yielding plants, which have limited distribution, were selected for scientific evaluation.Most of the enumerated taxa were reported as endemic and endangered (Nair and Sastry, 1998) as they have been over-exploited for different purposes.

Eastern Ghats, an overview
The Eastern Ghats cover on area about 75,000 sq.km.traversing the coromandel between 11° 30' -22° N latitudes and 76° 50' -86° 30' E longitudes.Its northern boundary is marked by river Mahanadi basin while the southern boundary is the Cauvery and west lives tips Bastar, Telangana, Karnataka plateaus and Tamil Nadu uplands.They pass mainly in three states viz.Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
In Andhra Pradesh, Eastern Ghats pass through Srikakulam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Khammam, Krishna, Guntur, Mahaboobnagar, Prakasam, Kurnool, Kadapa, Nellore and Chittoor districts.Eastern Ghats do not form continuous range like Western Ghats but assemblage of discontinuous ranges of hills with plateaus, escarpments, butters, tors, narrow basins and gorges with elevation ranging from few meters to more than 1600m.The Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Pennar and the Cauvery are main rivers which raise in Western Ghats have cut extensively through Eastern Ghats to escape into the Bay of Bengal, hence, they do not form a continuous range.Based on the climates, topographic, geographical features the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh can be divided into the following regions: 1. Northern Eastern Ghats: The stretching extreme north of the state i.e.Simhachalam and Rampa hills.
The altitudes in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh range from 300 -1500m above MSL.The altitudes more than 1000m above MSL in central parts of the north Eastern Ghats and 300 -600m, and above in Southern Eastern Ghats, while in Nallamalais the highest peak in rising between 600 -800 m above MSL.

Veligonda Hills
Veligonda and adjoining hill ranges spread along about 170 km North to South in Kadapa and Nellore Districts and stretching a little further into Prakasam district.Geographically these hill ranges lie between 79° E to 79° 30' E and 13° 45' N to 15° 15' N. The latitude in general ranges up to 1000m.The forests are in general dry deciduous type.Veligonda and adjoining hill ranges comprising of Palakonda, Seshachalam, Lankamala and terminal part of Nallamalais from mid region of Southern Eastern hats.
The Veligonda range which separates the Nellore district from Kadapa and Kurnool is the backbone of the Eastern Ghats, starting from Nagari promontory in Chittoor district.It runs in a northerly direction along the western boarders of the Nellore district, raising elevation of 1105m at Penchalakona in Rapur thaluk.Veligonda hill ranges have high altitudinal and deep valleys.Among the Velugondas range of hills the Durgam in Venkatagiri range and Penchalakona are the most prominent and 914m above msl.

Vegetation types in Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh
The forest area of the State extends about 63,814 sq km which constitute 23.2% of the total land area (Forest Report of Andhra Pradesh, 2013).The vegetation in Eastern Ghats is determined by climate, edaphic factors and biotic factors along with altitude.The wide variations in climate and topography of the Eastern Ghats have resulted in various types of forest growth.The vegetation in Eastern Ghats is classified based on the concept of Champion and Seth (1968).The following types of vegetation are found in Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh.

I. Tropical moist deciduous vegetation
These are typical deciduous forest with high annual rainfall of over 1000mm and mixed with evergreen species only along the patches of selected habitats.This type of forests found in Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh like, Ananthagiri, Maredumilli, and East Godavari District.It has the following prominent sub types viz., a) Forests dominated with sal (Shorea robusta Roth., Dipterocarpaceae), b) Those completely devoid of sal or Non sal forests, and c) Rivarian forests found along with river banks, streams and in the low hilly areas.
The vegetation is characterized by dense foliage at top canopy with abundant large climbers and epiphytes with scattered bamboo growth.The deciduous period is very less i.e., March-April.These can be sub classified into following categories.

II. Tropical dry deciduous forests
This represents typical deciduous forest growing in larger areas along with the northern, middle and southern Eastern Ghats.The upper canopy in these forests are uneven with mixture of species mostly typical deciduous trees which become leafless during dry seasons.Shrubs and grasses grow as undergrowth in a limited density in frequent forest fires.Bamboo and woody climbers being exposed, moist areas along low stream banks are the suitable habitats for epiphytes.These forests are classified into following sub types:   (Sanapati and Sahu, 1966).Being Andhra Pradesh is drained by major rivers mainly in Eastern Ghats, the tribals also settled along the river streams which pass through the Ghats.These tribes have their own styles of culture, language, heritage, customs, religious practices, food habit etc., who mainly live deep in forests, unable to contact with civilized people.They mainly depend on minor forest produce, hunting and rarely on agriculture for their lively hood.Out of 33 types of tribals of Andhra Pradesh, 27 communities are confined to these isolated hills and adjacent plains.

Yanadis
The Yanadis are more primitive aboriginal and concentrated mainly in Chittoor, Kadapa, Nellore, Ongole and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh.Yanadis are the melanid Black Indians a hunter gather tribe (Rangha Rao, 1901) The tribes are set to be direct descendants of Paleolithic people.Chenchus and Yanadis both are from one parental stock and are believed to be originated in Nallamalai hill tracts (Raghavaiah, 1962).Yanadis speak only Telugu language with a characteristic dialect and accent.They don't have any special functions.Ceremonies or celebrations particular to them.They are integrated with Hindu social system and practice.The Yanadi lead a carefree, life with contentment and unbridled merriment.Their diet chiefly consists of vegetable food and animals, wild fowls and other birds of food value.They even dig rat holes and use them in menu.However, the best satiating food for them is fish.Honey gathering in forests and plains is also a common practice among them.Two sub-tribes are recognized with in Yanadis, based on their occupation, Manchi yanadi, the superior type and the Challa yanadis are inferior type and carry different names including Garapa Yanadis, Chettu yanadis, Kappa yanadis, based on their habitation and the food taken.The Yanadis are short statured with dark skin colour, platyrrhine nose, long head, prominent chin, thick lips and scanty hair both on head and body.They reside in huts usually construct adjacent to a water source.Yanadis living in and around forests keep themselves busy in collecting and selling minor products.

Materials and Methods
The study was conducted among the local tribes who were practising local medicine in near the villages of Veligonda hill ranges.Frequent field trips were carried out during the different seasons in June 2012 to June 2014.The data (Local name; Habit; Plant part used; Medicinal uses) were recorded through interviews among the traditional healers and local tribes in their language (Telugu).These medicinal plants were identified taxonomically with "Flora of Presidency of Madras" (Gamble, 1935).The collected specimens were deposited in the N. B. K. R. Medicinal Plant Research Institute, Vidya Nagar, Nellore.

Results and Discussion
The yanadis are the major tribes inhabiting in Veligonda hill ranges.They choose faith healing first.Traditional and herbal medicine next and modern medicine only when the first two are failed.They have not made any changes in their life style or tried to adapt to modernity.

Fig. 1 .FFig. 2 .
Fig. 1.Habit wise analysis of Veligonda hill range This type of forest sub type found at Donubai area,

Table 1 .
Plants of Veligonda hills

Ethnology in Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh
The tribal people of Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh originated long back of prehistoric era.The stone-age culture of these tribals is evidenced by micro and mega-lithic sites at upper Godavari