Exploring ethnopharmacologically significant flora of southern Odisha, India to address urogenital issues

ABSTRACT Ethnopharmacological relevance: Therapeutic medicinal herbs are the backbone of indigenous healthcare system for generations in India and elsewhere. Using local herbs to treat various health ailments is a common practice among Indian communities, at the least as a first-aid. A relatively sluggish mode of action of herbal medicine and advanced medical facilities reaching even to the remote rural areas has shifted the public preference toward synthetic drugs, which adversely affects the intrinsic ethnomedicine knowledge. The southern part of Odisha Province of India is abundantly rich with medicinal flora. The region is largely tribal inhabited that relies largely on ancient curative herbal medication even today. Though scientific research efforts have explored the flora, further explorative investigations are needed.