Medicinal Plants: The Fountainhead
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- Title
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Medicinal Plants:
The
Fountainhead - extracted text
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Medicinal Plants:
The
Fountainhead
India’s
Medical Heritage
and its
Contemporary
Relevance
India’s traditional medical systems
are part of a time-honoured
and time-tested culture
that still intrigues
people today.
A culture that
has successfully
used nature to treat
INMEDPLAN
primary and complex
ailments for over
3,000 years obviously
India has one of the
richest ethno-botanical
traditions in the world
and our local commu
nities use over 7,000
species of plants. These are of
diverse habits from orchids and
ferjisdp trees, grasses, shrubs and
climbers in ecosystems,ranging
from Ladakh to Kanyakumari and
stretching to the north-east hills
of Mizoram and Nagaland.
What is Inmedplan?
Both rural and urban populations
make use of our health traditions
to meet a wide variety of health
needs. At the Foundation
for Revitalisation
of Local
Health
Traditions,
we are
helping
,
preserve
tradition in a
modern way
through a
collaborative effort
called the Indian
Medicinal Plants Distributed
Databases Network, or Inmedplan.
Inmedplan is a network of nine
nodal agencies and several satellite
agencies whose databases conform
to Inmedplan
database standards. These
agencies, spread across the
country, specialise in botany,
ecology,
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Objectives
phytochemistry, pharmacology,
pharmacognosy, ethnomedicine,
bibliography and
abstracts, agrotechnology
and traditional systems
of medicine.
Inmedplan has been set up to
network specialised database
producers who are engaged in
building reliable multi-disciplinary
information in the area of plants
and plant-based natural products.
It aims to serve the information
needs of agriculture, community
health, medical research, the
pharmaceutical industry and
medicinal plants conservation. The
network agencies are also striving
to establish world class standards.
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Need for a Database
Network on Medicinal
Plants
Multi-disciplinary information on
plants used for medicine is
available in specialised centres
scattered across the country. There
is, therefore, a vital need for a
network that links up these centres
so that users can have a single
window access to diverse
information on Indian medicinal
plants. The Inmedplan Secretariat
at Bangalore thus acts like a
supermarket that can supply to
users a range of quality information
on medicinal plants produced by
specialised research institutes in
different parts of the country.
The Foundation for Revitalisation 1
of Local Health Traditions is the .
Network Secretariat for Inmedplan\
Enquiries on medicinal plants can
be addressed to the Secretariat
which will gather and supply the
required information from the
nodal agencies concerned to the
users.
The Secretariat will publish
Inmedplan database standards
from time to time. A quarterly
newsletter is also being distributed ,
to enhance user awareness.
f
In addition, the Network
/•’
Secretariat liaises with
Js
international databases like
NAPRALERT, WCMC and others
and this information is available on
accessing Inmedplan.
Network
Graphic^
Centre O
FRLHT has a graphic database at
Bangalore which is being
equipped with suitable hardware
and software to scan/digitise
colour photographs and line
drawings of plants and process
them into approved formats.
Outputs from the centre will be
made available in two formats :
one low resolution version with
adequate details for reviewing on
computer screens and obtaining
representative hard copies, and the
other high resolution version will
be made available on demand for
printing quality images.
How to
^access
Inmedplan
\
■. v..JH
A user can request for data by
writing, sending an Email or
phoning the Secretariat. Inmedplan
is currently an organised offline
distributed network which will
provide online access as soon as
user demand grows to a viable
level.
The Nodal Agencies
Centre of
Indian Medical
Heritage
(CIMH)
Regional
Research
Laboratory
(RRL)
Central
Institute of
Medicinal and
Aromatic Plants
(CIMAP)
Publication &
Information
Directorate
(PID)
Nodal agencies specialise in a particular area of data. The
agencies and the information they manage is as follows:
Agrotechnology
Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP)
P.B.NO. I.P.O. Ram Sagar MisraNagar, Lucknow 226 016
Network
Secretariat
Central
Drug Research
Institute (CDRI)
Ayurveda
Research
Institute
Tropical
Botanical
Garden and
Research
Institute
(TBGRI)
Botanical
Survey of
India
Dept.
of Ecology,
French
Institute
of
Pondicherry
Contact Person : Dr. Sushil Kumar
Information Available:
Propagation, manures & fertilizers, harvesting yield, pests &
diseases, cultivation economics, sources of planting material
supplies and other relevant information.
Bibliography & Abstracts
Publication & Information Directorate (PID)
Dr. K.S. Krishan Marg, New Delhi 110 012
Contact Person: Mr. H.C. Jain
Information Available:
Plant reference, source, title, author, institution and abstract of
the article. The journal and the year in which published.
Botany
Botanical Survey of India
192, Kaulagarh Road, Dehra Dun - 248 195
Contact Person : Dr. D.K. Singh
5
Ethnomedicine
Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI)
Karimancode, Pacha- Palode P.O.
Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala 695 562
Contact Person: Dr. P. Pushpangadan
Information Available:
Family, genus, species, local names, infraspecific categories,
habitat, altitude, status, phenology, Indian & world distribution,
reference specimens, herbarium etc.
Information Available:
Location of ethnic source, disease for which plant used, plant
part used, plant part condition (fresh/dried), medicine form,
administration mode, etc.,
Ecology
Pharmacognosy
Dept, of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry
Ayurveda Research Institute
11, St. Louis St., P. B. 33, Pondicherry 605 001
Contact Person: Dr. B.R. Ramesh
Information Available:
Natural conditions in which medicinal plants occur viz.,
topography, climatic factors, edaphic factors, distribution
pattern etc.,
Poojappara, Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala 695 562
Contact Person: Dr. N. Lakshmi
Information Available:
Macroscopic and microscopic description of plant, officinal
part, histology, taste, odour and other distinguishing features.
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Pharmacology
Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI)
Chatter Manzil, P.B. No. 173, Lucknow 226 001
Contact Person: Dr. R.K. Sharma
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Traditional (Indigenous) Systems
Centre for Indian Medical Heritage (CIMH)
P.B. No. 7102, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore 641 045
Contact Person: Dr. S.N. Venugopal
Information Available:
System of medicine (ayurveda), scripture references,
indigenous classification, properties, processing, clinical usage,
formularies in which used, etc.,
Information Available:
Screening data (x 115), type of test, test results etc,
* Tibetan, Unani, Siddha centres still to be identified ’
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Phytochemistry
z/\
Regional Research Laboratory (RRL)
-£! jj' h Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions
No.50, 2nd Stage, 3rd Main, M.S.H. Layout,
Canal Road, Jammu 180 001
Contact Person: Dr. S.G. Agarwal
Information Available:
Isolation technique, constituent /compounds, chemical class,
structure, part containing constituent, percentage yield,
analytical techniques, bioactivity evidence (invivo/invitro)
biosynthetic studies etc.,
The Network Secretariat
Anand Nagar, Bangalore 560 024
Contact Person: Mr. Ravi Chander
FRLHT’s role in the
conservation of
medicinal plants and
the revival of India’s
traditional health
systems.
plants list along with a list of
priority plants based on realistic
criteria. Ongoing work includes
nomenclature corelation studies for
Sanskrit and botanical plant names,
eco-distribution mapping of priority
plants of South India and
establishment of nursery techniques
for selected wild medicinal plants.
»-!■_ ________ J
FRLHT is playing a pioneering role FRLHT’s thrust areas include
building centres of excellence in
in medicinal plants conservation.
traditional medicine for primary
With the help of other NGOs and
health care as well as specialised
State Forest Departments, the
fields of traditional medical
Foundation has helped establish
knowledge; promoting research in
30 medicinal plants conservation
theoretical
foundations of
areas in South India which protects
traditional medicine, and designing
biodiversity as well as medicinal
programmes for developing
plants. Fifteen medicinal plants
international co-operation in the
conservation parks are being set
field
of traditional medicine.
up along with a production unit in
Karnataka’s BR Hills which will
FRLHT is a public trust. It has on its
manufacture herbal medicine
governing body eminent scientists,
through a tribal co-operative.
traditional physicians, modern
medical professors and
The Foundation’s research
representatives of community
department has already
formulated a threatened medicinal health organisations, government
and industry.
Satellite Agencies
Whereas nodal agencies are subject specialists it is
difficult for any single agency to gather all the
information on any subject.
The Inmedplan Secretariat, therefore,invites other agencies
to participate in the effort to build up a national
database network on medicinal plants for the country.
The Secretariat will be publishing the Inmedplan national
database standards for each specialised subject. Satellite
agencies should use the common standards to represent
their data. Information from satellite agencies will be duly
acknowledged with a "source tag" and distributed by
nodal agencies on mutually acceptable terms.
T
THE IHOIAH MEDICIHtl PLAHT DISTRIBUTED O»TtB«SE MEFWOliK
E
C/o. Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions
No. 50, 2nd Stage, 3rd Main, M.S.H. Layout,
Anand Nagar, Bangalore - 560 024.
Te! : (080) - 3336909
Telefax : 91-80-3334167
Email : inmed@frlht.ernet.in
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