Medicinal Plants of Arya Vaidya Sala Herb Garden

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About the Book This comprehensive Hand book providing detailed information on the 1025 medicinal plant species in different languages, places where they grow naturally, parts used in medicine, important usos ete, for the benefit of professionals, students, herb collectors, farmes etc. The Hand book lists the plants alphabetically by their latin names. Information on groups of plants such as Nakshatra Vana (plants representing 27 stars), Dasamula (ten roots), Dasapushpa (ten flowers) Triphala (three myrobalans), Trikatu (three acrids) etc. is also included in the book. Indices of common names, glossary of medicinal terms and lists of reference are also provided.

About the Authors Dr. Udayan P.S. born on 8 May 1967 obtained his M.Sc., M. Phil. and Ph. D. degrees in Botany from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore during the year 1990, 1993 and 2004 respectively. with specialization in Taxonomy. He started his career in 1989 in the Nilgiris, under the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and surveyed the vegetation of Sholas and grasslands for six years, till March 1996. Later he worked as a Botanist, in the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, (FRLHT) Bangalore from 1996 to 2002 and surveyed the Western Ghats forests with special focus to Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas coming under Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and some forests areas of Andhra Pradesh. Since 2002 December he is working as a Senior Scientist in the Centre for Medicinal Plants Research (CMPR), Arya Vaidya Sala, Kotakkal, Malappuram, Kerala. He devoted to the study of South Indian biodiversity right from the date of completion of post graduation and in 19 years of his research career he has pub- lished books like: Illustrated Field Guide to 100 Red Listed Me- dicinal plants of Conservation Concern in Southern India and A reference checklist of Medicinal Plants of India published by FRLHT, Bangalore. He is working on different aspects of South Indian flora viz. Taxonomy, Ethnobotany, Medicinal Botany, Conservation, Ecology, Phytosociology, Reproductive Biology Palynology etc. and guiding seven Ph.D. scholars. He has more than 70 research papers to his credit including 2 new species and I new variety. He is also handling few projects funded by DST, KSCSTE, DBT, NMPB, TATA etc.

Dr. Indira Balachnadran started her career in 1982 as Research Officer, Arya Vaidya Sala Herb Garden, Kottakkal. Worked on the scientific identification of the plants used in Ayurveda and the controversies with regard to the plant sources of various drugs in the system. Took Ph. D from University of Calicut in 1990 under the guidance of late Dr. V.V. Sivarajan and the thesis is published by Oxford & IBH, Delhi in 1994 as a book titled "Ayurvedic Drugs and Their Plant Sources'. She has participated in many national and international conferences on medicinal plants and has published several papers. Won the JREIM gold medal for the best scientific paper presented in the First Asian Conference on Pharmaceutical education, research and drug industry held at Singapore in 1988. Received the Outstanding Young Person award of Kerala Jaycees in 1989. As per the invitation of the Faculty of Ayurveda, Hilversum, Netherlands, she gave a series of lectures in 1996. Served as Visiting Professor in Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan for six months during April-September 1999. Continued as Senior Scientist and In Charge of the Herb garden till 2003. Serves as Project Director, Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal since then. The Centre functions as an Institute for research, education, conservation and popularization of medicinal plants and handles many externally funded projects.

Preface The science and practice of Ayurveda are on the verge of global take off. Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in its various components, among the international community of academicians and health care providers. This augurs well for the growth and expansion of this traditional health care system and for strengthening its inherent capability to protect and sustain human health. This scenario has also helped us to become aware of some of the chinks in its armour. The major weak link in the whole chain of interconnected operational components of Ayurvedic health providing system is its critical resource base which is facing an uncertain future. This is the result of a combination of contributory factors which are largely beyond our control. Availability of good quality raw herbs in good quantity is an essential prerequisite for the sustained growth of Ayurvedic medical system.

Introduction Mankind has from time immemorial relied on plants and plant products for its health care requirements. The early man sought to cure his ailments, much as animals still do, from plants readily available in his immediate environment. Over long periods of time the most effective from among those remedies came to be identified and selected by a process of trial and error, empirical reasoning and even by experimentation, all of which later evolved into ethno-medical traditions.

**Contents and Sample Pages**