Medicinal Plants of Nepal

The wealth of medicinal plants in Nepal may be considered as one of the important natural resources for the economy of this Himalayan kingdom. Nepal lies in the central sector of the great Himalayas and occupies one third of the total length. The diversity of the physiography due to the altitudinal and climatic variations has made it possible to lodge almost all types of climate, broadly-tropical, temperate and alpine in a small country covering merely an area of 1,41,000 sq. km; Therefore many kinds of plant grow here and a large number of them have been used for medicinal purposes. This book includes 393 medicinal plants occurring in Nepal illustrations of some of the important herbs and drugs have also been given. Some of the imported herbs and crude drugs which are commonly in use in Nepal have also been included. The enumeration of the plants is arranged according to the Nepalese alphabetical order and the alphabetical arrangement of the scientific names appears in the index. Availability survey of the crude drugs and herbs, have not been included in this book. However they can be approximately estimated from export data supplied in Appendix I & II which is based on the data collected from various custom houses of the country.