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Abstract

Sriharikota Island is important because of its rich vegetational diversity and for the fact that it is the site of a Rocket Launching Station built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). An aboriginal tribe called ‘Yanadi’ dwells in a few tribal pockets on Sriharikota Island. However, a few aged tribal men are still able to furnish information regarding their traditional practices of medicines and recipes. There is an urgent need to conserve their herbal wealth and preserve their traditional knowledge for the benefit of modern society. It is with this background, along with the need to give a primary scientific basis to the tribal medicinal lore of Sriharikota Island, that a preliminary screening of antimicrobial (antibacterial and antifungal) activity screening was conducted for 81 tribal medicinal samples based on their medicinal importance and endemism/rare occurrence on the island. Of these 81 samples, 28 have shown positive response for antimicrobial tests. Among these 8 species, namely Alangium salvifolium, Aristolochia indica, Ctrullus colocynthis, Datura stramonium, Ficus religiosa, Holoptelia integrifolia, Lawsonia innermis and Ventilago madaraspatana have shown congizable immunity zone of inhibition (i.e. above 20 mm). All the data is recorded in this paper. The results are mostly in conformity of the medicinal uses and they are discussed in detail in this article.

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