Medicinal Plants of Kashmir & Ladakh (Temperate & Cold Arid Himalaya)

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During the past few years a series of books have appeared on Indian Medicinal Plants. In these books we have witnessed increased interest on tropical plants, but very limited concern about medicinal plants of temperate and cold arid regions. Although the current increase in research activities to develop new drugs from plants is based on exploitation of tropical rainforests of South America, Africa and Asia, yet the medicinal herbs of tempe- rate and cold arid regions have lost none of their importance and continue to be the best sources of potential herbal drugs. Probably, inaccessibility of regions with cold and rigorous climate is a bottleneck for the systematic scientific study of vegetal drugs of these areas.

The Himalayas is credited all over the world as a trove of medicinal herbs offering refuge to these plants in its varied mountain ecosystems. The present book is the outcome of author's field studies and provides scienti- fic information on 111 selected medicinal plants occurring in Kashmir and Ladakh- important regions of western Himalaya with diverse climate. The information presented is comprehensive. Most of the plants mentioned in the book are known herbal drugs. A chapter on traditional knowledge on healing properties of plants in Kashmir and Ladakh giving ethnomedicinal uses of 291 plants is included. Sixty-nine colour pictures illustrating 57 common and reputed medicinal herbs (all taken by the author) are included in the book.

It is hoped that the book will be useful as a field guide to botanists, cultivators and collectors of medicinal plants and to all those interested to work on Himalayan plants.

Dr. M.K. Kaul (born Nov. 1, 1948), an Honours Botany graduate from University of Kashmir, took his Ph.D. degree in Botany from University of Bombay in 1975. He has more than 25 years research experience in the field of systematic Botany, Ethnobotany and Conservation of Medicinal Plants. Most of this time he has been botanising in north-west and trans- Himalaya having an extraordinary diversity of altitudes and rigorous climatic conditions. He has been instrumental in 'ex situ' conservation of important medicinal plants like Heracleum candicans and Picrorhiza kurroa-Himalayan species exhibiting poor response to changed habitats.

He is a member of various national and international scientific societies. He has authored a book on weed flora of Kashmir and edited books on medicinal and aromatic plants. He has more than seventy research publications to his credit.

Presently he is working as a Senior Scientist in Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu-a constituent of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and is engaged in studies on biodiversity and sustainable use of endangered medicinal plant resources of western Himalaya.

In view of increased interest witnessed on the use of medicinal plants during the past decade, a series of books describing these plants have appeared on scene. These books have mostly described the use of tropical medicinal plants. Increased emphasis is required to be given to the study of medicinal plants growing in temperate and cold arid regions as only scattered information on such plants is available.

The earliest medicines used by mankind were obtained from plants. Evidence of this are the thousands-years-old traditions and records of popular healing. In present day world, around 120 pure compounds extracted from some 100 species of higher plants are used in medicine. Two-thirds of these are temperate species. Although a wide range of tropical plants has been used in traditional health care in developing countries, the biochemical potential of these plants has largely been overlooked in Western pharmacies. The modern pharmaceutical industry makes use of medicinal plants, especially in the dried form as crude drugs and as raw materials in the manufacture of medicinal preparations. Until the pharmaceutical industry is able to produce various active substances more economically on a commercial scale, botanical drugs will remain as important as ever.

Linnaeus (1754) wrote that "Man, ever desirous of knowledge, has already explored many things, but more and greater still remains concealed; perhaps reserved for far distant generations, who shall prosecute the examination of their Creator's work in remote countries, and make many discoveries for the pleasure and convenience of life." Even after about two and a half centuries, with so much scientific and technological advancement around, it holds true and remains a writing on the wall. Despite remarkable progress in laboratory drug development at present, the earth's flora and fauna are still the most important source for potential drugs. The natural pharmacopoeia has thousands of plants to choose from, yet most of them have never been thoroughly analysed with modern techniques. The process of deriving drugs from plant sources is not new. Over the centuries people have depended on the materials around them and through trial and error have learned the special properties of the plants in the environment. During the last quarter century there is renewal of interest in natural plant products as these are biologically more compatible with human systems and comparatively less toxic than synthetics. There is a growing tendency to open the doors on those plants that have been and still are used for treatment of man's infirmities, mostly of the body but sometimes of the spirit. Without plants, the majority of chemicals could not be available to us because they frequently have complex structures which are beyond the imagination of even the most competent synthetic organic chemists. Most of the chemical compounds are obtained as a result of the chemical examination of plants which are known to have traditional uses or are toxic. Native people everywhere in the world have special intuition in unlocking the secrets of Plant Kingdom. The way they have taken advantage of ambient vegetation around, has long been a source of admiration. During the past few decades, ethnobotany has more and more been recognized as a valid discipline having a very material role in development of new drugs from various ethnomedicines.