Plant names and uses as indicators of knowledge patterns.

Orissa is well known for its natural resources and cultural diversity. With 63 tribal communities, the state has the second largest tribal population in India110. Yet, the splendid ethnic diversity that is characteristic of Orissa, offers great scope for a deep understanding of the inter-relationship between human beings and nature. Of all the tribal communities inhabiting the state of Orissa, The Kondh, Poraja, Gadaba and Bonda still largely retain their traditional life style in the Koraput region, which implies that their ethnobotanical knowledge is also retained and put into practice daily. The Kondh and Poraja belong to the Dravidian family11,12. The Kondh are included under two linguistic groups, called Kui and Kuvi while the Poraja speak another Dravidian dialect, called Parji. The Gadaba and Bonda belong to the Austro-asiatic stockand speak the languages Ollari and Remo, respectively13,14. For all these communities, Oriya is becoming a common link language. The paper looks into the relationship between the plant resources and knowledge among 4 communities based on 20 plant species that are used commonly.