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Gynecology is a branch of medicine that deals with the health of the female reproductive system (uterus, vagina and ovaries) (Rahman, 2014). Until now some tribal women of Purulia district do not consult to the doctor for their lack of awareness and hesitation (Wadankar et al.,2011). they depend on some medicinal plants for the treatments of various gynaecological problems including anti-fertility, menstrual problems, delivery problems suggested by old experienced women of the village. This present study concentrated on the plants used by tribal women for their various gynaecological problems (Jan et al., 2020).

There are so many works regarding this topic have done by many authors but there is no concrete idea about gynaecological study of Purulia District. The related studies of my work are described below-

Akhter et al. (2016) performed a ethnomedicinal study of some selected medicinal plants used by rural women folk for their gynecological purpose in District Gilgit, Pakistan. Interview of hundred women they identified forty seven medicinal plants belonging to 29 families used for ten different gynecological problems such as irregular menstrual cycle, gonorrhoea, spontaneous abortions, infertility and leucorrhoea.

 Pattanayak et al. (2012) performed a study about the ethno-medicinal use of some commonly available plants for wound healing and related activities. They performed this study in three southern districts of West Bengal, India. Rural people are main target for this work. They traditionally used the plant equipment for their foot, shelter and also for their medicinal purpose.  

Rakesh et al. (2010) conducted a study with the aim to investigate the ethnomedicinal plants used to treat gynaecological disorder by the tribal people of Madhya Pradesh, India. This study reveals that the knowledge of the uses of different medicinal plants and their  plant parts doses and proper application gain by local healers by trials and error methods.

The present study was performed in Purulia district of West Bengal. This study was performed based on field interview. The interview was performed by face to face conversation with the old experienced women of the village. The information was mainly collected from the tribal villagers During the field interview received data were recorded in field note book. (Pattanayak et al.,2016). All the information about plant species (local name, parts used, mode of used, flowering and fruiting, habitat) was carefully documented. Collected specimens were dried and preserved in the herbarium sheet. (Dey et al.,2012). For this study data was collected from various parts of Purulia district of West Bengal. Tribal villagers of Purulia were specially my target for this work because the tribal women of this regions every time depend on the plants which were present in their locality. Purulia is the western most district of West Bengal. The Latitude and Longitude of Purulia district 23.342257˚N and 86.362839˚E. Total population of Purulia District is 2,927,965, in which more than 18% are tribal people. The average temperature and relative humidity is 7℃ - 45℃ and 75-85%. In this region annual rainfall ranges from 1240-1400 mm (Shukla et al., 2008).

There are so many medicinal plants throughout the globe. Still now 10 plant species from my study area have recorded used only for gynecological purpose.  These investigated plants are described in table-1 with its local name, scientific name, family, used parts and the nature of action.  

Scientific name	Family	Local name	Flowering and fruiting time	Parts used	Mode of use
Asparagus recemosus Willd.	Asparagaceae	Satyamul, Satmuli	September To January	Root	25gm raw turmeric, black peppers and white rice mixed with Root powder for preparation of small tablets which used to promote menstruation in case of less menstruation.
Hemidesmus Indicus (L.) R. Br.	Asclepiadaceae	Ananramul	September      To December	Root	Root past(5gm) mixed with black peppers and apply three times in a day (In morning and night in empty stomach, at noon before lunch). It helps in elimination of infertility.
Smilax Ovalifolia Roxb. Ex D. Don	Smilacaceae	Ramdatan, Kumarika, Atkir(Santali)	June To October	Root	Root past mixed with white rice and apply three times in a day (In morning and night in empty stomach, at noon before lunch). It helps in elimination of infertility.
Achyranthes aspera L.	Amaranthaceae	Chirchiri	September    To   April	Root	Used in the treatment of leucorrhoea (White discharge)
Acacia farnesiana Willd. (T)	Mimosaceae	Guyebabla	September To January	Root, Bark	Pest of root is applied on the vaginal area to destroy the upcoming embryo. Bark pest used in treatment of leucorrhoea.
Clerodendrum viscosum Vent.	Verbenaceae	Ghentu	February      To     July	Root	Root pest (2gm) is applied once in tablet form before lunch during 3 days to destroy unborn baby in the ovary.
Canna indica L.	Cannaceae	Kalaboti	Throughout the year (Mainly April to October)	Root	Root powder is used in tablet form for the treatment of gonorrhea and menstrual pains.
Clitoria ternatea L.	Papilionaceae (Fabaceae)	White Aparajita	May   To December	Whole plant body (Leaf, fruit, root) Except flower	Tablets which prepare by the dried plant parts used to cure leucorrhoea.
Piper betle L.	Piperaceae	Jhal pan	September     To   January	Root	Root past used induce female sterilization.
Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br.	Apocynaceae	Chhatim	September    To November	Stem, bark	Used in the treatment of Gonorrhoea.

 

Fig:1 Total number of plants with its used plant parts

 

Fig:2 Pie chart shows gynecological problems treated by the plant parts

1. A.H.M. Mahbubur Rahman.2014, Ethno-Gynecological Study of Traditional Medicinal Plants Used by Santals of Joypurhat District, Bangladesh. Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Vol. 2, No. 1, 10-13. 2. G. D. Wadankar, S. N. Malode and S. L. Sarambekar. 2011, Indigenous Medicine Used for Treatment of Gynecological and other related Problems in Washim District, Maharashtra. International Journal of PharmTech Research CODEN (USA): IJPRIF ISSN: 0974-4304 Vol. 3, No.2, pp 698-701 3. Hammad Ahmad Jan, Samin Jan, Rainer W. Bussmann, Latif Ahmad, Sher Wali and Nadeem Ahmad, 2020 "Ethnomedicinal survey of the plants used for gynecological disorders by the indigenous community of district Buner, Pakistan’’ Ethnobotany Research & Applications 19:26. 4. Rajesh Shukla, Moyna Chakravarty and M. P. Gautam. 2008, Indigenous medicine used for treatment of gynecological disorders by tribal of Chhattisgarh, India. Journal of Medicinal plants Research Vol. 2(12), pp. 356-360 5. Abhijit Dey, Jitendra Nath De. 2012, Ethnobotanical survey of Purulia district, West Bengal, India for medicinal plants used against gastrointestinal disorders. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 143, 68–80 6. Shibabrata Pattanayak, Tapan Kumar Mandal & Susanta Kumar Bandyopadhyay.2016, Ethno-gynecological study on the medicinal plants traditionally used in southern districts of West Bengal, India. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 15 (3), pp.482-486. 7. Nosheen Akhter, Shaheen Akhter, Shima Kazim, Tika Khan. 2016, Ethnomedicinal Study of important Medicinal Plants Used for Gynaecological Issues among Rural Women Folk in district Gilgit, Pakisthan. Nature and Science;14(9). 8. Tripathi Rakesh, Dwivedi S.N. and Dwivedi Sumeet. 2010, Ethno-medicinal plants used to treat gynecological disorders by tribal people of Madhya Pradesh, India. International Journal of Pharmacy & Life Sciences, 1(3):160-169 9. Pattanayak S. Dutta MK, Debnath PK, Bandyopadhyay SK. Saha B & Maity D.2012, , A study on ethno-medicinal use of some commonly available plants for wound healing and related activities in three southern districis of West Bengal, India, Explor Anim Med Res, 2(2) 97-110