Methodology

Secondary data was collected from various sources, published literatures and websites to make further analysis. The following method has been adopted.

Data Collection

The data available from published papers in regards to ethno-botanical plants of sacred groves has been compiled. Information collected includes plants, family, plant forms, and their distribution, number of sacred groves, tribes and threats.

Data Analysis

Proportions like plant families, habit and frequency were computed.

Statistical analysis

Dominant families and their corresponding species were considered the analysing the following biodiversity factors:
Species richness -The number of species considered on the basis of area is a measure of richness. The more species present in a area, the 'richer' the area. Evenness is a measure of therelative abundance of the different species making up the richness of an area.
A diversity index is a mathematical measure of species diversity in a given community. Based on the species richness (the number of species present) and species abundance (the number of individuals per species).
In the Shannon index, p is the proportion (n/N) of individuals of one particular species found (n) divided by the total number of individuals found (N), ln is the natural log, ∑ is the sum of the calculations, and s is the number of species.

Shannon Index (H) = -∑^s_i=1p_i    lnp_i
Evenness= E = H/H_max

Where H_max is Maximum Diversity possible. In the Simpson index, p is the proportion (n/N) of individuals of one particular species found (n) divided by the total number of individuals found (N), ∑ is still the sum of the calculations, and s is the number of species.

Simpson Index (D) = 1/∑^s_i=1p²

Community Similarity orenson’s coefficient gives a value between 0 and 1, the closer the value is to 1, the more the communities have in common. a. Complete community overlap is equal to 1; complete community dissimilarity is equal to 0.

The equation is Sorenson’s Coefficient (CC) = 2C/(S1+S2) Where C is the number of species the two communities have in common, S1 is the total number of species found in community 1, and S2 is the total number of species found in community 2 [82].

Determination on threat International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) catagories of threat status - rare, endangered plant species. The objective of this endeavour iscreating awareness about the importance of threatened species and conservation priorities at the local level.