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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research communications

Early Access

Ethnomedicinal practices for the management of skin diseases by Ao tribe of Nagaland, India

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11762
Submitted
12 September 2025
Published
31-05-2026

Abstract

The Ao is the major tribe of Nagaland and an inhabitant of the Mokokchung district. They rely solely on medicinal plants to cure a wide range of dermatological disorders. The uses of these plants are neither thoroughly investigated nor documented. To create new herbal medication with their traditional knowledge, proper documentation and phytopharmacological study are needed. Therefore, the present study was targeted to document the medicinal plants utilised by the Ao tribe along with their methods of preparation and mode of administration for treating dermatological disorders. The study was carried out in different villages of the Mokokchung district using a pre-structured questionnaire format and group discussions selecting 32 traditional healers. Two quantitative indices, the relative frequency of citation (RFC) and fidelity level (FL) were employed to evaluate the importance of plants. The current study reported 32 different plant species belonging to 25 families that are used to treat 11 different skin disorders. The plant parts that were most frequently utilised included the leaves, accounting for 59.37 % and the roots, which comprised 12.50 %. The highest RFC showed by Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntze (0.90), Lantana camara L., Scoparia dulcis L., Vitex negundo L. (0.87 each). The species are namely Abroma augustum (L.) L.f., B. monosperma, Calotropis gigantea (L.)   W.T. Aiton, Leucas aspera (Willd.) Link, Ocimum tenuiflorum L. and V. negundo are found with 100 % FL.  The findings of the present study are expected to be helpful for future research on drug design and development.

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