19

Chapter— 4

LITERATURE REVIEW

Records extant from ancient Egypt, Assyria, China and India show that the use

of plants for medicinal purposes extends back to earliest recorded history. This history

of medicine in India can be traced back to remote past. The earliest mention o f the

medicinal use of plants is found in the Rig Veda, perhaps the oldest repository of

human knowledge, having been written between 4500 and 1600 B.C. where in the

juice of Soma (Amanita -a hallucinogenic plant) has been mentioned as Oshadhi

(meaning heat producer). While searching for therapeutical uses o f the Soma, the

Indo- Aryans acquired knowledge of the medicinal properties and uses o f plants.

Hence, the term Oshadhi was applied to all medicinal plants. The Vedic Aryans were

familiar with about 100 medicinal plants. In Atharva Veda, which was a later work,

the uses of medicinal plants described are more varied. This was followed by the

monumental contributions like Charak Samhita (100 B.C.-800 B.C.), Sasruta Samhita

which were written not later than 1000 B.C. contains a comprehensive chapter on

therapeutics mentioning 700 drugs. A number of books on Ayurveda and Hindu

Botany written by learned scholars such as Bhikshu Atreya, Patanjali, Nagaijun,

Madhvakar, Chakradatta, Sarangadhar, Sankara and Bangasen (500-100 B.C.), who

expanded the vegetable material medica of the Hindus. Another valuable contribution,

Kalpastanum or Vrikshayurveda gives detailed characteristics o f vegetable drugs,

including their distribution, habitat, and suitable soil for growth, season o f collection,

duration of efficacy and methods of storage.

During the centuries that have gone by, the ‘materia medica’ o f the indigenous

systems of medicine has become extensive and heterogeneous. Out o f about 2000

items recorded in Indian medical literature, less than 200 are o f mineral origin; the rest

are derived from vegetable sources. Contacts with Greece and Rome, and later with

Arabia and Persia, contributed to the enrichment o f the Indian Materia Medica.

In sixteenth Century, some Portuguese and Dutch scientists came to India for

the study of medicinal plants. Van Rheed’s Hortus Malabaricus is the monumental

work in 12 volumes on the study o f Indian plants published between 1678 and 1703.

Sir William Jones contributed Botanical Observations on Select Plants in 1799,

followed by John Fleming’s Catalogue o f Medicinal Plants (1810), Ainslie’s Materia

Medica o f Hindoostan (1813, 1826). William Roxburgh, the father o f Indian Botany

worked a lot on Indian plants and his work was published as Flora Indica by Dr.

Carey in 1920-1924. Royal came with An Essay on the Antiquity o f Hindu Medicine in

1837. O’ Shaughnessy’s The Bengal Dispensatory (1841) is the first book dealing

exclusively with the properties and use o f medicinal plants. Herber Drury of Madras

Army (1858-69) published his monumental work on useful plants o f India.

The formation o f the medico-physical society o f Calcutta contributed

significantly to the study o f indigenous drugs. Some o f the vegetable drugs were

described for the first time in the Transactions o f this society (1836). The works of

Irvine (1847), Strachey (1852) and Boissier (1867) added further knowledge in this

field. In 1868, Waring’s Pharmacopoeia o f India signaled a new epoch in establishing

the value of medicinal plants. In 1869, Moodeen’s supplement to the Pharmacopoeia

o f India and Flueckiger and Hanbury’s Pharmacograpia (1879) added new

information.

Dutta’s Materia Medica o f the Hindus (1877), Dymock’s Vegetable Materia

Medica o f Western India (1883) and contributions by Khory (1887), and Dey (1896)

are valuable works relating to the medicinal products indigenous to India. The two

comprehensive works Pharmacographia Indica by Dymock, Warden and Hooper

(1889, 1893) and Dictionary o f Economic Products o f India by George Watt (1889-

1896) are the most valuable contributions o f the 19 * Century.

In 1918 voluminous work on Indian Medicinal Plants by Kirtikar and Basu

was published. Indian Materia Medica by Nadkami appeared in 1926. Chopra

published a treatise on Indigenous Drugs o f India in 1933. Chopra along with

20

Bhadwer and Ohosh prepared a monograph on Poisonous Plants o f India in 1949.

Other publications of this period are Bharatiya Banushadi (Biswas and Ghosh 1950-

1952), Indian Pharmaceutical Codex (Mukeiji 1953), monographs on Pharmacognosy

of Root and Rhizome Drugs and Pharmacognosy o f Leaf Drugs (Datta and Mukerji

1950, 1952), A Review o f Indian Medicinal Plants (Chopra and Chopra 1955), and

Chopra's Indigenous Drugs o f India (Chopra et al. 1958).

More recent works like Medicinal Plants o f India (Satyavati et al. 1976), and

Cultivation and Utilization o f Medicinal Plants (Atal and Kapur 1982). Medicinal

Plants (Jain 1985) and large number o f research publications added to the wealth of

literature on Indian medicinal plants. Recently, Jain and De Filipps (1991) briefly

described about 1850 species of Indian medicinal plants.

Systematic pharmacognostical investigations were initiated around 1940.

Valuable contributions have been made by Bal (1939), Bal and Datta (1939 -1952),

Datt et al (1956-61), Aiyer and Kolammai (1951 - 1964), Prasad and co workers

(1963 -1975), Pendse and Iyengar (1961), Aral and coworkers (1941 -1982), Wahi et

al. (1977), Ansari et al. (1971), Khosa et al. (1978 -1979), Singh (1965 a, b, 1982),

Sinha et al. (1984 a, b,), Mehra and his associates (1958-1979), Singh et al. (1985),

Chawla et al. (1983), Lala (1984), and many others..

Tissue culture technology has opened up new vistas for commercial

multiplication of medicinal plants. Increased production o f specific and

pharmacologically active principles o f plants are reported by Kaul and Staba (1968),

Heble et al. (1974,1975), Heble (1977), Kaul et al. (1967, 1969) and Kaul and Zutshi

(1977).

Khanna (1982) and his co workers (1968, 1971, 1977) have studied primary as

well as secondary products in the tissue culture o f some 20 medicinal plants.

During the last several years, scientists at RRL, Jammu have brought about the

genetic upgradation of many medicinal plants, such as Cymbopogon sp., Ocimum sp.,

Solanum khasianum and Datura metel (Kaul et al. 1973, 1974, 1976; Sobti and Kaul -

1982, Singh et al. 1979). The development of Colchicum and Jamrosa as substitutes

forpalmrose is noteworthy example (Pushpangandan and Bradu 1984).

On the recommendations of the Pharmaceutical and Drugs Committee of

CSIR, two books have been compiled: 1) A Reference manual containing detailed

description of all Indian drugs which have been studied scientifically (Chopra and

21

Chopra 1955), and (2) Indian Pharmaceutical Codex (Mukerji 1953). In 1959, CSIR

published a 'Glossary o f Indian Medicinal Plants’ (Chopra et al. 1956). Singh,

Wadhwani and John (1965, 73) compiled a book (ICAR; publication) on economic

plants of India, where in mention has been made o f a number of medicinal plants of

common use.

During the last 40 years, the Publications and Information Directorate (PID) of

CSIR,New Delhi, has systematically built up a collection of over 5,00,000 references

on plant uses in connection with the compilation o f the encyclopedic publication- The

Wealth o f India: Raw Materials. In 1979, PID started bringing out the journal

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Abstracts (MAPA) and CIMAP publishes Current

Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CROMAP).

Two directories -Herbal Drug Used in Indian Pharmaceutical Industry by

Kapoor and Mitra (1979), and Directory o f Crude Drugs and Aromatic Plants,

Dealers, Producers and Exporters in India by Shah and Virmani (1982) have proved

very useful so far as medicinal wealth is concerned. Two bibliographies, viz.,

Bibliography on Investigated Indian Medicinal Plants (1950 -1975) by Iyengar

(1977), Medicinal Plants by Mitra (1985), and a review on ‘Research in

Pharmacognosy in India ' (Mehra et al. 1969) are other noteworthy publications.

Rastogi and Mehrotra (1990, 1991) have published a compendium on Indian

Medicinal plants, two volumes to Glossaries by Chopra et a l (1956, 1969). These

cover the phytochemical and pharmacological work done during 1960-1969 and 1970

-1979 respectively.

Coventry (1923, 1927, 1930) in his 3-series pocket books has mentioned many

plants and their use with medicinal activities.

Lawrence (1895), a British settlement commissioner, in his book on the Valley

o f Kashmir has listed the herbs used by Hakims in indigenous medicine of Kashmir.

Amongst local workers, K.N. Koul is believed to be the pioneer plant

collector, who collected, particularly medicinal plants, from the Gurais Valley in

1924. Kaul (1928) in his book on Forest Products o f Jammu and Kashmir has enlisted

19 drug plants which were collected from forest areas of Kashmir.

Bal (1939) and later Kapoor (1951) listed some medicinal plants o f Kashmir.

In 1960, the Botanical Survey o f India (BSI) published a list o f 1,097 medicinal plants

along with their distribution and certain other details. Gupta (1962) has listed some

22

medicinal plants of West Himalaya; many o f them belong to our area. Chopra et al.

(1956) have worked on the cultivation of medicinal plants in Jammu and Kashmir.

Their medicinal plant collection is housed in RRL, Jammu and is only deposition of

medicinal plants in our area.

Kachroo and Nahvi (1976) have listed medicinal plants used by early

Kashmiris. A total of 103 plant species in 83 genera and 51 families are included in

their work (Table 5). Unfortunately there are some plants species mentioned in the list

which do not belong to our area.

23

Table 5:

S. No Family Genera Species

1. Adiantaceae Adiantum A. capillus veneris

A. venustum

2. Araliaceae Hedera Hedera helix

3. Arcethobiaceae Viscum V. album

4. Arismaceae Acorus A. calamus

5. Asclepiadaceae Cynanchum C.arnoitianum

6. Balsaminaceae Impatiens l.balsamina

I.parviflora

7. Betulaceae Corylus C.colurna

8. Berberidaceae Berberis B.aristata

B.lycium9. Boraginaceae Heliotropium H. eichwaldi

Macrotomia M.benthamii10. Cannabinaceae Cannabis C. sativa11. Caprifoliaceae Lonicera L. quinquelocularis

Sambucus S.wightiana12. Compositae Achillea A.millefolium

Artemesia A.absinthium

A.maritima

A.vulgaris

Aster A.diplostephioides

-------- Carpesium C.abrotanoides

24

S. No Family Genera Species

Carduus C. nutans

Erigeron E.canadensis

Inula I.royleana

Lactuca L.serriola

L. tartar ica

Sassurea S. lappa

Taraxacum T. officinale

13. Convolvulaceae Ipomoea I. nil

14 Comaceae Cornus C. sanguinea

15. Cruciferae Capsella C. bursa patoris

Cardamine C.pratensis

Descurainia D. sophia

Sisymbrium S.irio

16. Cuscataceae Cuscuta C.reflexa

17. Cyperaceae Carex C. nubigena

Cyperus C. rotundus

18. Datiscaceae Datisca D. cannabina

19. Dioscoreaceae Dioscorea D. deltoidea

20. Ericaceae Rhododendron R. campanulatum

21. Euphorbiaceae Euphorbia E. peplus

E. thomsoniana

22. Fagaceae Quercus Q. incana23. Gentianaceae Gentiana G. kuroo24. Geraniaceae Geranium G.nepalense

G. wallichianum25. Hypericaceae Hypericum H.perforatum26. Illecebraceae Hernaria H. hirsuta27. Lamiaceae Calamintha C.clinopodium

Leonurus L. cardiaca

Leucas L.cephalotes

25

S. N<p Family Genera Species

Mentha M.arvensis

28. Liliaceae Asparagus A.filicinus

Colchicum C.luteum

29.

lo7~JT~

Linaceae Linum L. usitatissimum

' Menyanthaceae Menyanthes M. trifoliata

Malvaceae Abutilon A. theophrastii

Malva M. sylvestris

32. Oxalidaceae Oxalis O. corniculata

33. Paeonaceae Paeonia P. emodi

34. Papaveraceae Papaver P. somniferum

P. nudicale

P.rhoeas

35. Papilionaceae Oxytropis O. mollis

36. Pamassiaceae Parnassia P. palustris

37. Phytolaccaceae Phytolacca P. acinosa

38. Plantaginaceae Plantago P. major

39. Plumbaginaceae Plumbago P. indica

40. Poaceae Stipa S. tartarica

41. Podophyllaceae Podophyllum P. hexandrum

42. Polygonaceae Polygonum P. amplexicaule

P. bistorta

P. convolvulus

P. dumetorum

P. virginianum

P. viviparum43. Portulacaceae Portulaca P. oleraceae44. Primulaceae Anagallis A. arvensis

A. arvernis var. coerulea45. Rosaceae Spiraea S. vestita46. Kubiaceae Randia R. spinosa47. solanaceae Datura D. stramonium

26

S. No Family Genera Species

Hyoscyamus H. niger

Physochlaina P. praealta

Solanum S. nigrum

48. Scrophulariaceae Pedicularis P. pectinata

P. siphonantha

Verbascum V. thapsus

Veronica V. anthelmintica

V. beccabunga

49. Thymeliaceae Daphne D. oleoides

50. Ulmaceae Ulmus U. wallichiana

51. Umbelliferae Carum C. bulbocastanum

Centella C. asiatica

Cicuta C. virosa

Conium C. maculatum

Ferula F. narthex

Hierarcium H. umbellatum

H. vilosum

H. vulgatum

52. Valerianaceae Nardostachys N. jatamansi

53. Zygophyllaceae Tribulus T. terrestris

Dhar and Bhat (1977) worked on Belladona (Atropa sp.), Bhat and Pandita

(1977) on Digitalis and discussed their importance in drug Industry. Sarin and Atal

(1977) worked on Dioscorea deltoidea and discussed its future prospects as raw

material for diosgenin. Kapur and Sarin (1977) have reported some useful medicinal

ferns of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kak (1981-82) listed about 500 plants used in Kashmir out o f which many are

of medicinal importance and in 1983 reported economic value o f some of the aquatic

plant species in Kashmir. Shaw (1982) has discussed the herbal medicine o f Northern

India, and Kapur (1983) reported some threatened medicinal plants o f Jammu and

Kashmir, many of which fall in the area o f study.

Dar et al. (1984) studied the ethnobotany of Sind valley reporting 56 plant

species of medicinal importance with some medicinal uses. Similarly Virjee et al.

listed 36 medicinal plants of Rajouri district and their method of use. Navchoo (1989)

studied the Ethnobotany of Gadsar Valley and recorded the use o f many medicinal

plants in the area.

In 1989 Shah presented a report on medicinal plants as a resource potential for

economic development of Jammu and Kashmir. In this report he has outlined various

areas including several medicinal plants which, if brought under cultivation, shall be

highly rewarding economically.

Several reports on Amchi system of Medicine in Ladakh enumerating the

herbs used by local medicinal practitioners (Amchis) have appeared. Navchoo and

Bath (1989) have listed 51 medicinal plants of Ladakh and their uses. Other reports on

Amchi system include Abrol (1962), Ragunathan (1976), Dhar (1980), Khan (1980),

Srivastava and Gupta (1982), Visvanath and Mankad (1984), Sharma and Singh

(1995).

Kumar and Naqshi (1990) studied the Ethnobotany of Banihal area of Jammu,

recorded many medicinal plants used by locals, and listed 52 plant species, both of

wild and cultivated nature distributed among 47 families found in common medicinal

treatment of various diseases as well as for other purposes.

Naqshi et al. (1992) studied the Ethnobotany of Jhelum valley. Folk uses of

129 species of wild origin representing 57 families o f vascular plants have been

recorded in this work.

Dhar and Siddique (1993) recorded some important ethnomedicinal plants

used in curing common ailments in Suru Valley of Zanskar.

Navchoo and Buth (1994) studied the medicinal plants used by the Gujar and

Bakerwal tribes of Jammu & Kashmir State, listing 86 plants with their medicinal

uses. Navchoo and Buth (1996) reported the folk medicinal use o f some plants o f

Zanskar region (Ladakh). Hussain (1996) elaborated upon the Unani-system of

medicine in Kashmir.

Hafiz (1997) performed Pharmacognostic studies o f some traditional medicinal

plants (Solarium miniatum and Tribulus terrestris) o f Kashmir.

Shah (1997) reported seasonal variation in pharmacological activity o f male

fern Dyropteris sp. Clinical trials under close medical supervision of male fern extract

27

on patients with Taeniasis, collected and processed during different seasons o f the

year. The best results were shown by the drug collected in late autumn.

Kaul (1997), listed only 111 selected species o f medicinal plants from Kashmir

and Ladakh, while actually Kashmir alone may have, more than, two times this

number.

Dar £/ (?/. (2000) in their Biodiversity o f the Kashmir Himalaya listed a total o f

106 medicinal plants from Kashmir Himalaya.

Dar and Naqshi (2001) discussed some most important medicinal plants of

Kashmir in their plant resources of Kashmir.