Ethnobotanical studies are often significant in revealing locally important plant species, especially for the discovery of crude drugs. Right from its beginning, the documentation of traditional knowledge, especially on the medicinal uses of plants, has provided many important modern drugs (Cox, 2000). The modern pharmacopoeia (allopathic medicine) still contains in the order of 25% of the drugs derived from plants, and many others are synthetic analogues built on prototype compounds isolated from plants. Traditional medicine still remains the main resource for a large majority (80%) of the people in developing countries for their primary healthcare needs (Danøe and Bøgh, 1999 ). There has been a resurgence of interest in traditional health practices throughout the world, which mainly encompass ethnobotany and the use of herbal remedies.

India is endowed with a rich wealth of medicinal plants, being perhaps the largest producer and rightly acclaimed as the botanical garden of the world (Dubey et al., 2004). It has a strong base in many systems of medicine including Ayurveda, Yunani, Siddha, and other health practices. The Indian subcontinent inhabited by over 54 million tribal people, dwelling in about 5 000 forest-dominated villages spreading across the country, comprising 15% of the total geographical area (Nath and Khatri, 2010). Due to their constant association with forests, ethnic groups have immense plant lore that they inherit and pass on from generation to generation just through oral conversation (Chhetri, 1994, Rao and Shanpru, 1981). In India, more than 43% of the total flowering plants are reported to be of medicinal importance (Pushpangadan, 1995). In India, attention has been paid in the field of ethnobotanical studies by various researchers and hundreds of reports have been published in the last three decades (Ansari and Tiwari, 1998, Ayyanar and Ignacimuthu, 2005, Bhandary et al., 1995, Chellappandian et al., 2012, Jain and Puri, 1984, Katewa et al., 2004, Nagaraju and Rao, 1990, Rajan et al., 2002, Yabesh et al., 2014).

In the health sector, India has made enormous strides over the past decades. In spite of this progress, communicable diseases are expected to continue to remain a major public health problem in the coming decades, posing a threat to both national and international health security (Dikid et al., 2013). Besides endemic diseases such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases, communicable disease outbreaks will continue to challenge public health, requiring a high level of readiness in terms of early detection and rapid response. In this regard, vector-borne diseases, such as dengue and acute encephalitis syndrome, are of particular concern. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest health challenges facing humanity and must be tackled with all seriousness. In addition, non-communicable diseases are now the leading cause of death in the country, contributing to 60% of deaths (Jain et al., 2015, Narain et al., 2015). Four diseases, namely heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic pulmonary diseases, contribute nearly 80% of all deaths due to non-communicable diseases, and they share four common risk factors: tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, an unhealthy diet, and a lack of physical activity.

Ethnobotany focuses not only on medicinal plants but also on other natural products derived from nature, such as gums, resin, and latex, which are important excretory products. The common gum-yielding families in India are Sterculiaceae, Anacardiaceae, Combretaceae, Meliaceae, Rosaceae, Leguminosae (Fabaceae), and Rutaceae (Goswami and Naik, 2014), which have been used as herbal recipes in ethnomedicine to cure different human as well as veterinary ailments like wound healing, stomach disorders, illness, toothache, anaemia, leukaemia, dermatological disorders, and gynaecological problems (Ambasta, 1988; Chadha, 1976; Kirtikar and Basu, 1986). Plant-derived gums are good sources of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, as well as calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, and phosphorus (Upadhyay, 2017). These plant-based traditional medical systems continue to play an essential role, in mainly on traditional medications for their primary healthcare.

The southern and south-eastern countries are endowed with a rich diversity of woody species that produce different commercial gums and resins (Ethiopian Forestry Action Program (EFAP), 1994, Eshete et al., 2005, Lemenih, 2005, Lemenih and Teketay, 2003a, Lemenih and Teketay, 2003b, Lemenih et al., 2007, Tadesse et al., 2003). They are also used as raw materials in many pharmacological industries, folk medicines, food industries, flavouring, beverages and liqueurs, cosmetics, detergents, creams and perfumery, adhesives, dye manufacturing, and paints (Food and Agricultural Organization (TextXFAO), 1995, Lemenih and Teketay, 2003a, Lemenih and Teketay, 2003b). They have been articles of great historical and current commerce in the Horn of Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular. For instance, Ethiopia and Somalia are the major producers and exporters of frankincense and myrrh in the world market (Food and Agricultural Organization (TextXFAO), 1995, Lemenih and Teketay, 2003a, Wahab et al., 1987).

India is a significant producer of gums and resins, yielding around 2.80 lakh tonnes of these valuable natural products. The majority, approximately 80%, consists of gums, while 19% is made up of resins, and a small portion comprises gum-resins. India has a longstanding tradition of being the largest producer of Lac, Guar gum, and Karaya gum (Pal, 2013). In recent times, there has been a resurgence of interest in natural resins and gums obtained from forests by rural and tribal communities. These communities rely on these resources for their livelihoods. The promotion of tribal tourism can contribute to the development of locally produced goods and create both direct and indirect employment opportunities. This, in turn, has a positive ripple effect as money circulates within these communities. Furthermore, the tribal tourism sector can significantly enhance the development of tribal regions through provincial taxes and can drive local and national infrastructure growth in India (Sangwan and Bhatia, 2020, Chinomona, 2019).

Literature on therapeutic uses of gum-resin yielding plants in India indicates that very little attention has been paid by the ethnobotanists; there is no specific report on this aspect. In this scenario, the present study was undertaken to systematically document the precious traditional knowledge pertaining to the utilisation of gum-resin yielding plants for curing various ailments from the different states of India, that is, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra of India. The main objective of this study is to analyse the documented gum resin plants through quantitative indicators and may conserve this valuable treasure for future generations and further pharmacological studies.