Medicinal Plants Known from Wayanad N. Anil Kumar Salim P.M V. Balakrishnan & V.V. Sivan M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation MSSRF, CAbC hand book No.8. Medicinal Plants known from Wayand A checklist with Local Names, Botanical Names, Habit and Habitat N. Anil Kumar, Salim P.M, V. Balakrishnan & V.V. Sivan Date of Publication: 23-11-2001 Revised Edition: 06-06-2007 M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation Community Agrobiodiversity Centre Puthoorvayal, P.O., Kalpetta, Wayanad- 673121, Kerala Phone- 04936 204477, E-mail [email protected] Type setting and compilation of illustrations: Shyja. K.N Printing: 1 Contents Acknowledgement …………………………………… 4 Introduction …………………………………… 6 Checklist of Medicinal Plants …………………………………… 8 Index to Botanical Names …………………………………… 45 Index to Local Names ……………………………………. 54 Reference …………………………………… 57 2 Acknowledgement We are grateful to Professor M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman for his critical comments on the checklist and encouragement for its publication. Thanks are also due to Mr. Ratheesh Narayanan, Senior Scientist, MSSRF and Mr. P.J. Chackochan, Secretary, Wayanad Vanamoolika Samrakshana Sangham for their contributions in correcting the scientific name and giving correct local name and habitat. 3 Abbreviations ST - Small Tree MT - Medium Tree LT - Large Tree VLT - Very large Tree 4 INTRODUCTION The plants capable of contributing to the health security of humans and their domesticated animals have, always fascinated human beings. They called such herbage as medicinal plants, and made use of its different parts- roots, leaves, bark, stem, flowers, fruits, and seeds for curing many ailments varying from simple discomforts to serious diseases. WHO’s finding that about the 80% of people in developing countries rely on plants for their primary health care needs still remains true, particularly in villages of countries in the tropical world. The Indian society from very ancient times recognized the value of the healing plants, and employed them in various ways for keeping their health II green”. It is estimated that there are about 400,000 registered traditional medical practitioners in India now working in Ayurveda, Unani, Sidha and the Ethnic health care systems. (Jason and Cherla 1998) In China; the healfh care system ‘is largely based on medicinal plants, and more than 5000 species are used to treat at least 40% of urban patients and 90% of the rural families (Anon.2000) Although a number of plants have been utilized effectively for medicine and food in the day-to-day life of a traditional society in Indian villages, this tradition is slowly diminishing to the extent of loosing all our good traditions including the health care culture. Ironically, the western society has now recognized the great potential of the herbals in healing many of the present day ailments. This has now resulted in a high-level market demand for such herbs and herb derived products. For instance, during 1998-1999 the trade in herbal products was for US $ 700 million in Europe, US $ 200 million in Japan, and US $ 300 in South America (Annon.2000), but it was about US $ 150 million only in Asia during this period of time. The Asian region, which is very rich in medicinal plant wealth and traditional knowledge on herbal usage, except China is yet to emerge as a competitor in this field. India can take a lead roJe in this sphere, since it has over 5000 species of medicinal plants in which at least 10% is endemic to the country, if research, production and marketing are coordinated in an effective manner. The government of India has recently set up a Medicinal Plants Board to give integrated attention to all aspects of Medicinal Plants conservation and sustainable and equitable use. At Wayanad- a haven of both medicinal plants and traditional medical practitioners, the Community Agrobiodiversity Centre (CAbC) of MSSRF has attempted in helping the villagers to revitalize and conserve their health-care heritage. 5 The tribal and rural communities of this district had their traditions intact till recently, and have been us.ing a large number of species for their health security system. Unfortunately, several such species as well as the traditions of healing diseases with plants and other biological materials are facing serious threats due to the impact of “modern civilization”. The most important early warning sign in terms of the preservation of traditional health care practices is the alarming erosion of knowledge about the healing methods and also the much faster genetic erosion in medicinal plant diversity. The fundamental cause of the loss of such knowledge and the depletion of biological resources is our simple ignorance about the value of our heritage and its application in present day life. Hence CAbC has given much importance to make people understand the importance of revitalizing their conservation traditions through a three-pronged strategy- research, extension and field level action. The steps involved include awareness generation, analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and action. Most of the medicinal plants listed out here have been collected from habitats like wet- lands (44), wayside t.hickets (1 66) and forests (289) (See Chart III). It is observed that the prevailing harvesting methods in case of most of these plants are unsustainable. Because of the practices adopted the regeneration capacity of the plants is becoming a limited factor in many cases. Also the habitats where most of the medicinal plants commonly occur are destroyed in various ways. Our study shows that among the primary health care plants in the district, the practice of using the reproductive part and the entire plant is more than that of using roots or leaves alone. Currently many of these medicinal plants are available only in interior forests and thus the local raw drug collectors mostly women of tribal communities have to walk a long distance inside the forests to collect these plants. Among the 637 medicinal plants listed with this publication, trees and herbs are utilized more for medicinal purposes (See chart-I) The analysis shows that about 150 species are collected for their stem, 139 for roots and 136 species for the whole plant (See chart-II) This check- list is an attempt to nventories in a systematic manner all the known medicinally important species seen in wild as well as grown in Wayanad district. We hope this compilation would stimulate the preparation of more publications dealing with useful information on each of the species listed out in this booklet. I also hope this book- let will be useful for those who want to know about the extent of diversity of medicinal plants in this part of Western Ghats. 13-09-2001 N. Anil Kumar 6 S1. USEFUL No. BOTANICAL NAME LOCAL NAME LOCAL NAME HABIT HABITAT PARTS ACANTHACEAE 1 Andrographis atropurpurea (Denn) Kattukiriyath Herb Forest Whole Plant Alston Im«p-In-cn-bm¯v 2 Asystasia gangetica (Linn.) T.Anders D¹nbw Uppliyam Herb Forest & Cultivated Whole Plant 3 Andrographis paniculata (Burm f.) Kiriyath Herb Cultivated Whole Plant Wall. Incn-bm¯v 4 Barleria courtallica Nees Im«p-]mÀÆ-Xn, sh¬Ip- Kattuparvathi, Venkurinhi Herb Forest Leaf & Root dnªn 5 Hygrophila ringens (L.) Steud. Neerchulli Herb Wet Land Slender twig & \oÀ¨pÅn Leaf 6 Hygrophila schulli (Buch.-Ham.) M.R. Vayalchulli Herb Wet Land Whole Plant & S.M. Almeida hb¨pÅn 7 Justicia adhatoda Linn. BS-tem-SIw Chittadalodakam Shrub Cultivated Root & Leaf 8 Justicia betonica Linn. A¸, shÅ-¡p-dnªn Appa, Vellakurinhi Shrub Way Side Root & Leaf 9 Justicia gendarussa Burm.f. hmXw-sImÃn (hb-eäv) Vathamkolli (Violet) Shrub Way Side Whole Plant 10 Nilgirianthes auriculatus Nees Ipdnªn Kurinhi Shrub Forest Root 11 Strobilanthes ciliatus Nees Karinkurinhi Shrub Cultivated Stem bark & Icn-¦p-dnªn Root 12 Thunbergia fragrans, Rox. apdn-Iq«n Murikootty Climbers Wayside Leaf ADIANTACEAE 13 Adiantum capillus - veneris Linn. IpXn-c-hmen Kuthiravali Herb Walls Leaf 14 Adiantum caudatum Linn. ]p{Xw-Nmcn Puthramchari Herb Way Side Whole Plant AIZOACEAE 15 Trianthema portulacastrum Linn. sImgp-¸-¨o-c, hjf¨oc English Cheera, Sambaar Herb Cultivated Leaf Cheera 7 ALANGIACEAE 16 Alangium salvifolium (Linn.f)Wang At¦mew Angolam S. T. Leaf & Root Bark AMARANTHACEAE 17 Achyranthes aspera Linn. IS-emSn Kadalady Herb Forest & Road Side Slender twig & Root 18 Aerva lanata (L.) Juss. sNdqf Cherula Herb Way Side Whole Plant 19 Alternanthera sessilis (Linn.) R.Br. s]m¶mw-I®n Ponnamkanni Herb Paddy Field Whole Plant 20 Amaranthus spinosus Linn. apųNoc Mullancheera Herb Way side, Leaf & Root Homestead 21 Amaranthus viridis Linn. sNdp-Noc Cherucheera Herb Way side, Whole Plant Homestead 22 Cyathula prostrata (L.) Blume Cherukadalady Herb Way side, Whole Plant sNdp-I-S-emSn Homestead AMARYLLIDACEAE 23 Pancratium triflorum Roxb. Im«pÅn Kattulli Herb Rock Crivices Tuber ANACARDIACEAE 24 Anacardium occidentale Linn. ]d-¦n-amhv Parankimavu MT Cultivated Fruit, nut &stem 25 Buchanania lanzan Spreng. Ipf-amhv Kulamavu MT Forest Whole Plant 26 Holigarna arnottiana Hook.f. tNcv Cheru MT Forest Stem 27 Holigarna nigra Bourd. ae-t©cv Malancheru LT Forest Stem &Fruit 28 Holigarna longifolia Buch Ham.ex. Roxb. tNcv Cheru LT Forest Stem & Fruit 29 Lannea coromandelica (Houtt) Merr. Icbw (D-Zn) Kareayam (Udhi) MT Forest Bark 30 Fruit, Bark & Mangifera indica Linn. amhv Mavu MT All over Gum 31 tX³sIm-«, Ae-¡p- Semecarpus anacardium Linn.f. tNcv Thenkotta, Alakkucheru MT Forest Fruit 32 Spondias pinnata (Linn.f) Kurz. A¼gw Ambazham LT Forest Fruit & Bark ANNONACEAE 33 Annona reticulata Linn. B¯-¸-gw, sh®oÀ¸gw Aathapazham, Vennirpazham ST Cultivated Fruit & Stem 8 34 Annona squamosa Linn. Cu\mw ]gw Eenaam pazham ST Cultivated Fruit & Bark 35 Cananga odorata(Lam.) Hook.f.& Th. at\m-c-RvPn\n Manoranjini T Cultivated Flower 36 Miliusa tomentosa (Roxb.) Sinclair Im\-ss¡X Kanakaitha MT Forest Gum 37 Polyalthia longifolia (Sonner) Thw.