Antihepatopathic Plants Used by the Lepcha Tribe of the Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayan Region of India.

Members of Lepcha tribe are aborigines in the Sikkim and Darjeeling Himalayan Region. Famed as born naturalists and known to be a "vanishing tribe," the ethnomedicinal traditions of these people are characterized by multiple remedies for a single ailment. The present study revealed the Lepchas use 36 species of plants belonging to 28 families as liver related ailments. Of these plants, 53 percent have not been reported earlier as hepatoprotective agents and may be used in the development of modern antihepatopathic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]