CONSERVATION AND CULTIVATION OF NON-WOOD FOREST PLANTS IN THE HIMALAYA

摘要

Plants have been in use by man for a variety of purposes such as food, shelter, clothing and medicines. Drugs are of plant origin, used to cure diseases and sufferings in indigenous system of medicine. The history of medicine and surgery dates back perhaps to the origin of human race, as no mode of recording events existed in the pre-historic times. In our country, the reference available to the curative properties of some herbs in the Rig Veda (5000 years BC) seems to be the earliest record of herbsused in medicine. India has been known to be a rich repository of aromatic and medicinal plants, since antiquities. Rig Veda mentioned 67 medicinal plants, Yajurveda 81 and Atharvaveda (4500 - 2500 years BC) 295 species. Later the Charak Samhita (700 BC) and Sushrut-Samhita (200 years BC) have described properties and uses of 1100 and 1270 plants respectively in compounding of drugs and these are still used in classical formulation in Ayurvedic system of medicine. With the passing of time, number of Indian medicinal herbs have risen much more in numbers and are in modern use.