The value of Medicinal Plants & How will you identify them ?

The use of herbs as a medicine for healing has been an ancient practice. Right from the beginning of human existence, human beings use medicinal plants to cure themselves of various diseases. Oldest known written records of herbal medicine is 'sushrut Samhita' from ancient Indian medicine scriptures. The practice continues till today and will continue for as long as human beings occupy this earth. The knowledge of which herb is useful for which disease was by observation, instinct, and experimentation. Over time, human beings developed a more advanced way of knowing which plant is medicinal or poisonous, and which is beneficial for which illness.

In the modern world, the knowledge of herbal medicine has significantly advanced. Technology advancement helps ambitious people to explore new world up to its boundaries. Over 120 active chemical ingredients are presently known to be derived from plants for use as drugs and medicines. There are over 4,25,000 species of plants on this planet. Human beings in different continents use about 1,00,000 of these plants for medicinal purposes. Of these, only 10,000 (10 %) is said to have been clinically analyzed and thus recommended for human consumption by various governing authorities over different countries. Although many modern medicine are derived from plant source. for example, Aspirin derived from willow bark, penicillin from Penicillium mold, cocaine from the coca plant, and quinine used for the treatment of malaria that is derived from Cinchona Ledgerina, nick-named ‘fever tree’. This shows that despite the advance in medical and scientific knowledge, we have just begun to scratch the surface of the vast body of knowledge available in nature. This should make us humble and accept our ignorance.

My collection

Now the main question is, How to identify herbal medicinal plants in your locality? this is an important question because Some herbs look so much alike that it takes careful examination and experience to spot the difference. To contribute to finding a solution to this problem, I suggest you some tips which might help you in the identification of medicinal plant in your surrounding.

• Frist of all decides to document some of your local herbs with their pictures, to help proper identification. Hopefully, there will be many more similar books to follow. If you are an herbal medicine practitioner, or a natural medicine user, or lover of plants, ensure that you give pride of place to proper identification of plants. At a time when so much attention is being given to phytochemical screening of plants, there is a temptation to overlook the philosophy of ethnomedicine and cultural use of plants, thereby losing the link between plants and the community. This is why a plant album that documents how the local people use the plants is essential. Another reason why the documentation and proper identification of local plants are crucial is that even the traditional healers have become a highly endangered species, as many of them die mainly due to old age and other tropical diseases, without passing on their knowledge and expertise to their children and grandchildren.

• Take help of herbologist, plant lovers or botanical experts to identify and uses of medicinal plants. you can also take help of google for more information.

• The best and easy method is to cultivate such medicinal plants in your garden. This will help you when you want it anytime.

• If you planted such medicinal herbs then put a banner of identification and its uses on that herb in such a way that your family and friends also know them to increase knowledge in this field.

I Placed a banner like this

• And the last one more interesting clues are, taking help of social media like Facebook, WhatsApp etc. you can join or form a group or a page where you can discuss your questions or your experiences in this field. if you have trouble in identification and uses of medicinal plants then you can take help of others who are expert in this field via this platform.

At the start, you may find it difficult but as time passes things go easy and by chance, it will be your hobby. remember "Nature is the best physician"

It is not the will of God that we throw away the wisdom of our forefathers and mothers. If you care about mother nature then she will definitely take care of you !!!

Good Bye.