An ethnobotanical insight into the healing traditions as strategies for forest conservation of indigenous ethnic communities in the West Sikkim district of the Sikkim Himalayas, India

The West Sikkim district, home to the UNESCO-listed Khangchendzonga National Park and Biosphere Reserve, is characterized by a rich repository of life-saving medicinal plants. Indigenous ethnic communities inhabiting this ecologically diverse Himalayan region have long relied on traditional knowledge systems for treating a wide array of health conditions. Among the most efficient conservation practices, sacred groves maintained by local ethnic communities serve as culturally protected forest patches that safeguard medicinally important species while reinforcing community-led stewardship of biodiversity. However, this knowledge and its ecological foundations remain largely undocumented and are under threat of disappearing. The present study aimed to (i) systematically document ethnomedicinal practices of indigenous communities and traditional healers in West Sikkim, (ii) evaluate the traditional use patterns of medicinal plants using quantitative ethnobotanical indices, and (iii) classify ailments and plant use data according to the International Classification of Primary Care, 2nd Edition. Data were collected between July 2022 and June 2024 through semi-structured interviews with 218 informants using purposive and snowball sampling. A total of 70 medicinal plant species from 42 families were documented, with Asteraceae, Zingiberaceae, Orchidaceae, and Gentianaceae being the most represented. The present study reveals herbs as the dominant life form in terms of the highest number of species (48%) utilised in traditional remedies, roots being the most frequently used plant part (21.05%), and decoction as the preferred method of preparation (32%), with oral administration method (77%) as the most preferred mode of delivering herbal medicines in the region. These plants were used to treat 31 health conditions across 16 ICPC-2 categories. Cordyceps sinensis showed the highest use value (0.96) and Relative Frequency of Citation (1), highlighting its significance in local remedies. High Familiarity Index (FIV) was noted for Tetrataenium nepalense , Cordyceps sinensis, and Artemisia vulgaris (each 1) while the highest Informant Consensus Factor (1) was observed for diseases including tooth, eye, liver, bacterial infections, jaundice, cancer, and Blood pressure and Blood circulation related disorders. This study underscores the crucial role of traditional medicine in West Sikkim’s indigenous healthcare, highlighting its preservation—together with conservation practices such as sacred groves—as key to protecting cultural heritage and advancing future drug discovery.