Life-Sustaining Plants of the Himalayas

Contents: Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Ecology and physiography of the Himalayas. 2. Himalayan phyto-biodiversity. 3. Plant and human life in the Himalayas. 4. Subsidiary food plants of Jammu & Kashmir. 5. Subsidiary food plants of Himachal Pradesh. 6. Subsidiary food plants of Uttarakhand. 7. Subsidiary food plants of Nepal Himalaya. 8. Subsidiary food plants of Sikkim and Darjeeling. 9. Subsidiary food plants of Bhutan Himalaya. 10. Subsidiary food plants of Arunachal Pradesh. 11. Subsidiary food plants of Assam. 12. Subsidiary food plants of Manipur. 13. Subsidiary food plants of Meghalaya. 14. Subsidiary food plants of Mizoram. 15. Subsidiary food plants of Nagaland. 16. Subsidiary food plants of Tripura. 17. New contributions from the Himalayas to the global list of wild edible plants. 18. Ancient Indian wisdom on the secrets of healthcare and preventive food supplements. 19. Functional foods and biodiversity conservation in the Himalayas. Bibliography. Index.

"Agricultural production in the Himalayas had been under constraints over the centuries. Frequent spells of food shortages had, therefore, necessitated the search for alternate food sources. As a consequence, a large number of wild edible plant species known variously as lesser-known, under-utilized, ethno-botanical, ethnomedicinal plants were found to be useful.

The Himalayas provide suitable habitats for the occurrence of a wide array of medicinal and wild edible plant species.

These plant species have a high potential for exploitation as a source of rare vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids/fatty acids. The need of the hour is their immediate bioprospecting so as not to get deprived of their patenting rights to someone else.

Chapters on subsidiary food plants of J&K, H.P., Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura give information on wild edible plant species with their local names and edible parts used.

A chapter on 'New contributions from the Himalayas' provides information on the status of plant species employed for ethnobotanical uses in the Himalayas. It also gives details of species which were recorded for the first time for edible use.

The book brings out the hidden wealth of plant species researched by innumerable unknown farmer scientists to not only sustain human life during scarcity but also open up a treasure of information. The book will be of much use to the plant genetic resource researchers, scholars, phytochemists, social scientists, nutraceutical industries, nutritionists, pharmacologists and healthcare scientists." (jacket)