Profile

Exploration, collection, conservation, identification and documentation of medicinal plants of Western Ghats and adjoining areas form the major thrust area of the division. Rare, endangered and threatened plants are also being collected and conserved. These plants are grown in the National Field gene bank of Ayurvedic medicinal plants established at Kottakkal with the financial support from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India.  A herbarium, raw drug museum and an image library are also being set up. The long-term objective is to develop a unique database on the medicinal plants of Kerala. Identification of elite cultivars of medicinal plants for commercial exploitation through morphological (micro and macro), biochemical, phytochemical and molecular characterisation of germplasm collected from different agroclimatic zones in collaboration with concerned divisions is also one of the mandates.

Broad objectives

• Exploration, collection, identification, documentation and conservation of medicinal plants used in Ayurveda from different agroclimatic zones of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
• Establishment of a Field Gene Bank of Ayurvedic medicinal plants
• Identification of elite cultivars in medicinal plants for commercial exploitation through morphological (micro and macro), biochemical, phytochemical and molecular characterisation
• Establishment of
  • Seed Bank of Ayurvedic plant species producing orthodox seeds
  • Herbarium of plants used in Ayurveda and other RET taxa
  • Raw drug museum of Ayurvedic medicinal plants
  • An image library of medicinal plants and their useful parts
• Survey and documentation of traditional knowledge of Kerala and adjoining states
• Building up a database on selected plant species used in Ayurveda

Major Achievements

• Botanical exploration, collection, identification and documentation conducted in 32 forest areas of South India and 32 secondary sources
• 2373 accessions of 237 species maintained in the AVS Herb Garden and field gene bank of Ayurvedic medicinal plants
• Established a Field Gene Bank of 145 rare and important Ayurvedic medicinal plants with 1071 accessions from the forests areas of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
• 3 new records, 1 for Andhra Pradesh and 2 for Tamil Nadu, 1 new variety
• 148 rare, endangered and threatened plants collected and documented
• Screening and evaluation of germplasm based on detailed macro- and micro- morphological and anatomical studies
• Identified a superior clone of Adhatoda with double amount of vasicine content
• Seeds of 96 accessions belonging to 35 species deposited in the Seed Gene Bank and their viability being monitored
• A Herbarium of medicinal plants holding over 3645 sheets belonging to 577 species that includes rare, red-listed and endemic plants
• 425 raw drug samples of 250 species maintained in the Raw Drug Museum
• An Image library of about 2468 images of 811 species and database of 150 plants used in Ayurveda
• Documented traditional knowledge on the medicinal plants used for various ailments by tribal/ethnic communities of South India

Services:

• Scientific identification of plants
• Training in herbarium techniques
• Training in plant taxonomy for M.Sc. students

Publications

List of Published Papers 2003 onwards

In Journals:

• Published:                                 13
• In press:                                   15

In symposium/seminar:                        10

Awards

• Received the S.R. Yadav award for the best poster titled “Notes on a Few Rare, Endemic and Threatened plants in the Western Ghats of Kerala and Tamilnadu”by Udayan, P.S., K.V. Tushar, Satheesh George and Indira Balachandran at the XIVth National Seminar of Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (IAAT) held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, during 29-31 December, 2004

Scientists