Ethnomedicine for aphrodisiac by the tribes of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to document aphrodisiac plants used by the tribes of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh.It resulted in discovering 45 species of plants covering 45 genera and 35 families used as aphrodisiac. Fabaceae is the dominant family with 7 species followed by Malvaceae, Mimosacae and Meliaceae each with 2 species and others. Habit-wise analysis showed the dominance of shrubs (14) followed by trees and herbs (13 each) and climbers (5). Morphological analysis showed the dominance of seed and root in 7 practices each followed by stem and leaf in 6 practices each; stem bark (4); fruit, root bark and whole plant (3 each); flowers and rhizome (2 each) and others. Canavalia africana, Maerua oblongifolia, Zaleya decandra and 20 practices were found to be new or less known.