FIELD GUIDE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF DEVARAYANADURGA FORESTS Harish R. Bhat Published by The Deputy Conservator of Forests Karnataka Forest Department, Tumkur Division, Tumkur. A field guide to the Medicinal Plants of Devarayanadurga State Forests by Harish R. Bhat Edited by Photographs by Ashok N.R. Guru Prasad T. V. (Wildlife Aware Nature Club, Tumkur) Published by The Deputy Conservator of Forests, Karnataka Forest Department, Tumkur Division, Tumkur. A FIELD GUIDE TO THE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF DEVARAYANADURGA STATE FORESTS by Harish R. Bhat Edited by Ashok N.R. Photographs by Guru Prasad T. V. (Wildlife Aware Nature Club, Tumkur) Published by The Deputy Conservator of Forests, Karnataka Forest Department, Tumkur Division, Tumkur. NO. of pages xvi + 176 Year of Publication 2000 Designed & Processed at Aravind Color Process, Rajajinagar, Bangalore 10. Ph : 3357224 Printed at Abhimani Printers, Rajajinagar, Bangalore 10.. II FOREWORD Man is a unique creation of Mother Nature. Since birth he is dependent on plants for food, fuel, dress and shelter. Living in harmony with nature, he has learnt the art of curing minor ailments using herbs, minerals etc. In the course of time, this knowledge of medicinal herbs has grown as an ancient system of medicine of our country known as Ayurveda, which has served the mankind since time immemorial. In the modern era, people have become ignorant and forgotten the identification of herbs. Due to population explosion, felling of forests and lack of knowledge of identification of herbs, many of the species of medicinal plants are on the verge of extinction. It is our duty to conserve this valuable wealth of our country and convey this message to our new generation. In this direction an enthusiastic young scientist, from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Mr. Harish R. Bhat, has done a wonderful work. He has surveyed about 307 plants in the Devarayanadurga State Forest in Tumkur District, of which 167 medicinal plants were provided with photographs. This book is the result of his constant effort and excellent fieldwork on medicinal plants. Local name, description of medicinal properties of each plant is given in this book. Plants are also depicted on beautiful colour photographs making the difficult problem of plant identification most simple. It will be of great use for the students of traditional medicine. I wish all the success to Sri. Harish Bhat, and hope that he will continue this noble work. Dr. Bharathesh A.,B.S.A.M Jeevan Clinic, Karkala -574 104 III Editor's Note My interest in plants as a source of medical products goes back to about six years ago when I was doing my post-graduation in Medical Microbiology at Mangalore. The kind of richness, in terms of diversity of plants that I knew had medical value, in just that area, was amazing. I was also saddened to see that we were not utilising this wealth by ignoring it. Editing this book has given me an opportunity to dig more into this information, and rediscover the wealth that is right there for us to use, if only we could just take time to look at it. What started of as an interesting hobby has turned into an eye-opener to a vast field. I sincerely hope that compiling this book would be of some help in providing a direction to an interest in this area, and welcome any suggestions to improve the quality of the book, both in terms of content and presentation. N.R. Ashok, M.Sc. (Medical Microbiology). Photographer's Note Photography started off as a hobby, which I found helped me in a lot of activities, generally associated with Nature and Wildlife. I usually did not photograph plants and trees, unless they were colourful or beautiful or preferrably both. The credit for a sea change in this mindset goes to my friend Sri. Harish R Bhat, who taught me a lot more about plants by clarifying my doubts and introducing me to many new plants, along with their uses, without any hesitation during his survey. This provided a great opportunity for me to learn more about plants through photography. These days, I do not dismiss plants casually. I try to observe them, and make my own inferences by observing things like leaf structure, bark, arrangement of leaves and branches and things like that. Photographing the medicinal flora of Devarayanadurga was an exciting as well as a rewarding experience. I take this opportunity to thank all the officials of the Forest Department and all the members of WANC, Tumkur for providing moral support during the work including Dr.Ameen Ahmed for his cover page photograph. Guruprasad T.V. Wildlife Aware Nature Club,Tumkur IV Author's Note This book describes 167 species of medicinal plants belonging to 60 families occurring in the Devarayanadurga state forest. Colour photographs for 134 species are provided. The descriptions of the species include the botanical name, name of the family, local names in different languages, habitat and distribution, flowering season, chemical composition and medicinal uses of plant parts. Medicinal plants are part of India's traditional systems of medicine and one of Nature's best gifts to humankind. Many medicinal plants are commonly available in and around countryside, village backyards, nearby forests and also cultivated by villagers with great reverence. Since centuries various kinds of ailments were treated using different parts of the medicinal plants. By reviving the traditional health practices, it is possible to provide the primary health care services to the rural community. This simple field guide is primarily intended to help the common man in easy identification of medicinal plants. It is hoped that this book will not only meet the requirement of the local knowledgeable persons, but also W useful as a guide to all those who are interested in traditional systems of mediune. I thank Sri M.N.Narayanaswamy,D.C.F.,Tumkur Division and the Karnataka State Forest Department for granting the permission and providing the support during the inventorying of medicinal plants of Devarayanadurga. I also thank all thhe forest officials of Tumkur Division for their valuable assistance during the field work. Mr. Ashok N.R. has edited the entire manuscript and also critically scruitinised the medicinal terminologies. Mr.Guruprasad TV of WANC,Tumkur has taken great pain in photographing plants and also assisted in the field work. •Prof, Madhav Gadgil, Dr. K.Prabhakar Achar,Dr. Gopalakrishna, Dr.P. K.Rajagopal,. Dr. K.V.Aravind Hebbar have provided valuable guidance and suggestions. I also thank Ms, Revathi R.and Ms, Mary Sunitha for computerising the manuscript. Special thanks to Dr. Ameen Ahmed, Dr.Mahesh G.S., Mr.Prasanna, Mr.T.V. Murthy and other members of WANC.I am grateful to Mr. Deepak C.H., Mr. Suresh H.S.Jndu K.Murthy for their encouragement and help. Bangalore Harish R. Bhat April 2000 Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science v MESSAGE The Karnataka State Forest Department has for the first time in the Country initiated a unique programme for the Conservation of Medicinal herbs, considered as our veritable National Wealth. This is the first State to undertake the mammoth mission of identifying medicinal herbs used by practicing country doctors as well as tribal people. This enterprise has culminated in identifying more than 650 such species and these are being developed in Forest Nurseries to conserve them for posteriety. The Department has also identified several strategic areas rich in medicinal plants and attempts are being made to identify and list them and record their medicinal values. The district of Tumkur is considered as a treasure trove of Medicinal Plants. The Siddarabetta and Devarayanadurga which support a wide variety of medicinal herbs are a rich source of plant drugs for the practicing doctors. Devarayanadurga is a highly revered place not only for its glorious history but also for its rich medicinal herbs. However, a scientific study and recording of these species was a long felt need. It is in the context that A field guide to the Medicinal plants of Devarayanadurga State Forest assumes more significance. I heartily congratulate the pioneering efforts of Sri. Harish Bhat for his painstaking research and Gurupfrasad TV. for his photographic support. Sri M.N.Narayanaswamy, IFS., Dy., Conservator of Forests, Tumkur, deserves special kudos for taking initiative to make this work see the light of the day. All the people associated with this acclaimed work naturally merit for congratulations and appreciation. Let this work serve as a guide to those who have involved in the same line of research. C.S. RAJU IFS., Conservator of Forests Hassan VI MESSAGE The Ayurveda system of healing has been quite popular in Karnataka. Herbs form the raw materials for this system of medicine. Karnataka boasts of wide variety of medicinal herbs grown in various bio-rich areas of the state. The District of Tumkur is no exception. The Siddara Betta and Devarayanadurga State Forest area a rich source of medicinal herbs even today. Devarayanadurga State,extending about 42.27 Sq.Km., is situated in picturesque location. Fourteen Kms away to the east of Tumkur city, it has a glorious history and is known for its Namada Chilume, a natural spring of pellucid water. Sri. Harish Bhat has made a trail blazing effort to identify the medicinal herbs which abound the forest. The Tumkur Division of State Forest Department extended its full co-operation to assist in this mission. The entire area was demacrated into nine grids and systematic research was done to record the species and their medicinal values. This work is was ably supported by Sri Guruprasad T.V. of Wildlife Aware Nature Club who photographed the herbs in their natural habitat. Sri N.R. Ashok extended his help to edit the book. Thanks are due to my colleagues Sri Panchalingegowda, Asst. Conservator of Forests, Sri D. Krishna, Range Forest Officer, Sri Gangadhar, Forester and Sri Boregowda, Forest Guard. I profusely thank Sri C.S. Raju, IFS., Conservator of Forests, Hassan with whose help this book has been consummated. I also thank Sri Srinivasa Murthy, IFS., Conservator of Forests and Sri Mohan Karnat, IFS., Dy, Conservator of Forests, FRLHT who have taken interest in this project and encouraged all of us in the field work. Lastly, I thank Sri K. Puttaswamy, Asst. Director, Dept. of Information who is solely responsible for the formatting and compilation of this work. And my sincere thanks are due to the Abhimani Printers for the nice printing of this book. Tumkur 14-3-2000 M.N.NARAYANASWAMY IFS. Dy. Conservator of Forests Tumkur VII