Bhitarkanika National Park is the second largest contiguous mangrove forest of India. Approximately 0.15 million mangrove depending population are found residing in and around 307 villages within the National Park. Despite being one of the most diverse mangrove habitations of India, the ethnopharmacological practices are meager in comparison to the other mangrove regions of India and Southeast Asia. The present review is aimed to congregate information on the therapeutic potential and ethnopharmacology of nine dominant mangrove species of the National Park, such as Aegiceras corniculatum, Avicenia marina, Avicenia officinalis, Ceriops decandra, Excoecaria agallocha, Heritiera fomes, Lumnitzera racemosa, Rhizophora mucronata, and Sonneratia apetala. Our aim is to generate social awareness among the mangrove dwellers to promote uses of folklore medicine using these tremendously potential mangrove plants, as a complementary step to strengthen community health. Further, we also want to grab the attention of researchers working in related disciplines, for their holistic and extensive studies towards bio-prospectation of the dominant mangrove plants of Bhitarkanika National Park.
Keywords: Bhitarkanika National Park; ethnopharmacology; mangroves; phytocompounds; therapeutics.
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