Medicinal Plants of India: An Encyclopaedia

by Ravindra Sharma

The present publication "Medicinal Plants of India: An Encyclopaedia" provides comprehensive and condensed information of an extensive and large number of medicinal plants grown and found in different agro-ecological zones of India. The publication describes, along with illustrations and photographs, nearly 600 species and 380 genera belonging to 172 families of the medicinal plants.

The author has made special efforts to records vernacular (local) or trade names of these plants, which will be very helpful to the readers and users.

The brief description of medicinal plants includes habit, vegetative features, floral characters and period of flowering (phenology). It is followed by information pertaining to local distribution and range in terms of elevation, topography, climate, vegetational composition, part used and chemical constituents. Beside this, the author has copiously incorporated medicinal uses along with traditional information.

The author has also identified and listed certain threatened medicinal species and suggested possible in situ and ex situ conservation strategies.

About the Author:

Dr. Ravindra Sharma (born January 21, 1970) is presently President & Managing Director, Green Foundation(For health care, social equity & biodiversity conservation), a reputed Non-Government Organisation (NGO), Dehradun. He has been actively associated in research and development (R&D) in the field of cultivation of medicinal herbs, green health mission, ethnobotany and conservation biology. He has contributed more than 30 research paper, general articles in national and international journals of repute.

He is the author of two popular books, one of them is wildly acclaimed entitled "Aushadhaya avum Sugandhiya Paudhuon ki Krishi Taknik" (Hindi Edition), won second prize under "Rajbhasha Puruskar Yojana (2002), sponsored by Defense Research & Development Organisation, Ministry of Defense, Govt. of India, New Delhi. He is the member of several societies concered with botanical or environmental research and development. He has extensively travelled to the remote areas of Himalaya and has been devoted to record the traditional heritage knowledge of the folk people, beside his concern in the biodiversity and sustainable use of plant resources in the North-West Himalaya.