Buchanania lanzan Spreng, commonly known as char, achar and chironji, belongs to family Anacardiaceae. It was first described by Francis Hamilton in 1798. The tree is natural wild growth in the tropical deciduous forests of Northern, Western and Central India, mostly in the States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and in Varanasi and Mirzapur districts of Uttar Pradesh. Besides India, the plant is also found in other tropical Asian countries, Australia and Pacific islands. Regionally, it is known by different names. Tree can be identified by dark grey crocodile bark with red blaze and is a good species for afforestation in bare hill slopes. About seven species of Buchanania have been reported in India, out of which two namely Buchanania lanzan and Buchanania axillaries produce edible fruits. Traditional indigenous knowledge reveals the immense value of almost all parts of the plant i.e. roots, leaves, fruits, seeds and gum for various medicinal uses. Buchanania lanzan, being a vulnerable medicinal plant, is included in the Red Data Book published by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). This species has high socio-economic value providing livelihood to tribal population of the area and has high potential as commercial horticulture species. Unfortunately due to over-exploitation and indiscriminate harvesting (lopping and cutting), considerable reduction in the population of Buchanania lanzan has been recorded in the recent past, leading to very severe threat to its extinction, which calls for urgent conservation efforts at all levels. The production of this economically important forest tree species is further threatened by insect pests also. In this backgroun...
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...have been reported in India, out of which Buchanania lanzan and Buchanania axillaries (Syn. Angustifolia) produce edible fruits. Buchanania lanceolata, an endangered species, is found in the evergreen forests of Kerala while Buchanania platyneura is found in Andaman. Other species of the genus are Buchanania lucida, Buchanania glabra and Buchanania accuminata.
TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS USES
Traditional indigenous knowledge reveals the immense value of almost all parts of the plant like roots, leaves, fruits, seeds and gum for various medicinal uses. The roots are acrid, astringent, cooling, depurative and constipating and are useful in treatment of diarrhea. Extract of the root is also used as an expectorant and for curing biliousness and blood diseases. The leaf juice is used as expectorant, aphrodisiac, purgative, blood purifier, thirst-quencher and cures digestive
Furthermore, as the Liliaceae family is primarily ornamental they have a significant commercial value i...
The multiple use of plants used for nourishment, medicinal purposes and practical use were ignored by Lewis and Clark during their monumental trek across the United States. Rather than consider the Native Indian’s use of native plants they persisted on using Dr. Rush’s Thunderbolt pills that probably caused more problems than the condition that inflicted them. Many modern day cultures continue to ignore native remedies and have come to depend on synthetic pharmaceutical drug production. In recent years the wealth of indigenous knowledge has been acknowledged revealing the use of native plants and the importance it had in the survival of indigenous people.. Pharmaceutical companies have utilized the immense knowledge of the indigenous people and their use of natural plants. The application of natural plant species have revealed the main reasons mankind has survived into present day. Following is a few of the plants, their application and their specific purposes.
As Mike arrived at the end of the hallway, he looked on the left side and saw the door to room 1408. The door was different then all the other doors he had seen along the hall; it was slightly bigger and the color was different. All the other doors were black and freshly painted while the door to room 1408 had an old greenish color and there was places were the paint had been chipped. Mike also had a hard time seeing the number of the room since the paint was slightly faded away. When Mike inserted the key in the door handle, his heart was beating as it never had before. Even if Mr. Enslin was afraid, he turned the key and swung the door wide open leaving it to produce a squeaky, irritating sound.
In ancient times, Middle east used these as a natural gum “Tragacanth” which was prepared by inducing many species of Astragalus including A. Adscendens, A.gummifer etc. ; whereas, Astragalus membranaceus has been a part of history of china, who consumed this herb as an herbal medicine and it is still used as a traditional Chinese medicine. This herb medicine is known to benefit many health issues including heart aliments.
Khoshbakht K & K Hammer. 2008. How many plant species are cultivated? Genet Resour Crop Evol 55:925–928.
According to Lebot (2009), about 1000 accessions of X. sagittifolium, X. violaceum, X. nigrum, X. brasiliense and X. yucca were collected from different part of the world. The majority was collected from Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana and Togo. Ethiopia with its diverse agro-ecologies and suitable environments, allows the growth of numerous root and tuber crops; mostly in the South and Western parts of the country by smallholder farmers (Asfaw, 2005). Both taro and tannia are grown mostly throughout the hot and humid areas of southwestern Ethiopia. In the area there is a large genetic pool of tannia in farmers’ field and homesteads (Amsalu and Tesfaye, 2006), and more than 80 accessions of tannia were collected from the area (Amsalu et al., 2008).
Lulekal, Ermias, et al. "Ethnomedicinal Study Of Plants Used For Human Ailments In Ankober District, North Shewa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia." Journal Of Ethnobiology & Ethnomedicine 9.1 (2013): 63-75. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Mowrey, Daniel. "Rainforest Remedies." Rainforest Medicinal Plants. Raintree, 27 Jan. 1999. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Tree grows up to 8 m in height, with umbrella-shaped or flat or rounded crown (Maundu et al., 1999). It is based chiefly on characteristics of the seed and seedlings, absence of stipular spines (but prickles present) and pollen characteristic. It is very branched with many upright twigs (Von Maydell, J.H. 1990). Selection of the best seed sources of A. senegal for given region is necessary for maximum productivity in plantation forestry and agro forestry systems (Subramanium et al., 1992). Tree breeder wants to explore the naturally occurring variability which permits tree breeder to make rapid genetic advance.
...mary example of a plant that has been used throughout history for multiple purposes. It was initially a plant that was only of importance to the Native peoples of the Americas. What was once considered a plant that was only useful in tribal folklore and ritualistic practices, is now being considered very valuable in the modern world. Current inquiries and research into natural alternatives to the many chemicals utilized in the modern food and drug industries is shining a light on the effectiveness and the many potential uses of B. Orellana. Its uses have expanded from its original intended purposes to an array of purposes because of its valuable properties. Although at this current point, more research is needed on B. Orellana to enhance its effectiveness and successfully implement it into more foods and medicines, the possibilities this plant presents are promising.
Colocasia esculenta (L.) originated in the tropical region that spans from India to Indonesia and is now widely grown in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Region and the Caribbean (Matthews 2004, 55-71). The root crop is commonly known as dashen in the Caribbean. It was originally bro...
... provide the mites protection. This tree has a dense evergreen canopy and mostly prefers moist soils. Its bark has a very rough texture and can vary in colour from black to grey. Their leaves are very simple and alternate with a dark green colour. Various insects pollinate their flowers and their seeds are dispersed either through water or by the animals that eat their fruits. Animals that feed on the fruits include monkeys, baboons, brown-headed parrots, the kudu, the impala, the jackal and grey hornbills. Snakes generally stay close to the tree as they prey on various rodent and bird species that feed on the prey. The leaves of the tree can be consumed by elephants, kudus and the eland. The wood of this tree is very strong and is commonly used to make wooden spoons and canoes and extracts of various parts of this plants is used for its anti-biotic properties.
...s a weed in tropical and warm temperate region of other countries. Leucaena leucocephala is a medium sized fast growing tree belongs to the family Fabaceae. It is native to Southern Mexico and Northern Central America and now it has naturalized in many tropical and sub-tropical locations. The specific name ‘leucocephala’ comes from ‘leu’ meaning white and ‘cephala’, meaning head, referring to the flowers. It is commonly known as White Lead tree, White Popinac, Jumbay and Wild Tamarind. Seeds are dark brown with hard shining seed coat. The tree has multifarious uses like firewood, timber, greens, fodder, green manure provide shade and controls soil erosion (Pendyala, Baburao and Chandrasekhar, 2010).
Review of literature reveals a lot of ethnobotanical references about traditional usage of plants. Therefore detailed ethnobotanical studies about the research plants were therefore carried out in various localities.
Herbal remedies’ qualities are widespread availability, lower cost, effective for chronic conditions. Herbal remedies are the use of plants or plant extract to treat a person’ overall health. Herbal treatments are prominent for developing countries for instance, “in Africa up to 90% and in India 70% of the population depend on traditional medicine to help meet their health care needs” (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011), due to their low cost and availability. Herbal remedies have gained attention in the past decades, and expanding their uses due to the increased interest of natural therapies (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Herbs used on the remedies grow in the wild throughout the world, therefore making it easy to