Other medicinal plants:
Beddomes Cycad / Perita / Kondaitha
- Region: Eastern Peninsular India
- Uses: Male cones of this plant are traditionally used by local herbalists to treat rheumatoid arthritis and muscle pain. The plant is also noted for its fire-resistant properties.
Blue Vanda / Autumn Ladies’ Tresses Orchid
- Distribution: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland
- Uses: Blue Vanda is one of the rare orchids with blue flowers. It is prized for its potential in producing interspecific and intergeneric hybrids, making it significant for botanical research and hybridization.
Kuth / Kushta / Pooshkarmoola / Uplet
- Distribution: Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh
- Uses:
- Widely used in Tibetan medicine as an anti-inflammatory drug.
- Roots are aromatic and used in perfume and incense production.
- Contains the alkaloid ‘saussurine’, which holds medicinal value.
- Its oil is also used in making insecticides.
Ladies’ Slipper Orchid
- Uses:
- Mainly used as collector’s specimens.
- Sometimes used alone or as part of herbal preparations for treating anxiety and insomnia.
- Occasionally applied topically for muscular pain as a poultice or plaster.
Red Vanda
- Distribution: Manipur, Assam, Andhra Pradesh
- Uses:
- Valued globally, especially in Europe and North America, as decorative orchids.
- Collected widely to meet the demand of plant collectors and orchid enthusiasts.
Sarpagandha
- Distribution: Sub-Himalayan tracts (Punjab to Nepal, Sikkim, Assam, Eastern & Western Ghats, Central India, Andamans)
- Uses:
- Roots of Rauvolfia are highly valued for treating nervous disorders and mental illnesses.
- Contains reserpine, an alkaloid with sedative properties useful in anxiety, psychosis, and lowering blood pressure.
- Effective in digestive disorders like diarrhea and dysentery, and also has anthelmintic properties.
- Leaf juice is used in cholera, colic, and eye infections.
- Shows effects like sedation, tremors, myosis, ptosis, and bradycardia.