Ethno-botanical potential of medicinal legumes in the Western Ghats of Karnataka

The present study aims to explore Western Ghats of Karnataka to document the distribution, diversity and ethno botanical knowledge of medicinal legumes. The traditional knowledge of about 28 medicinal plants were recorded from different biogeographic regions of Karnataka. Among the documented medicinal legumes Kingiodendron pinnatum is an endangered medicinal plant included in Red Data List of IUCN. Rapid disappearance of medicinal legumes due to overexploitation and urbanization suggests that unrecorded ethno-botanical information may be lost forever. Thus, it is important to document the traditional ecological knowledge of medicinal plants.