MEDICINAL FLORA OF PRAGATI RESORTS AND SURROUNDINGS, RANGA REDDY DIST,A.P.,INDIA
INTRODUCTION
“VRIKSHO RAKSHATI RAKSHITAH: If we protect the trees, they will protect us in turn”
“Save the Trees and Save the Mankind” is the philosophy of Pragati Group of Resorts. If your deeds are Eco-friendly, you will enjoy full span of your life happily and comfortably! This was the vision of the Managing Directors Mrs. & Mr. G.B.K. Rao, when they initiated launching of Pragati Group of Resorts, in the outskirts of Hyderabad in 1996. The Duo were so keen in maintaining the eco-systems and the environment of the area they selected, for raising the cottages, farm houses and other structures for commercial purposes including Eco-friendly tourism. They never compromised on disturbing the natural contours of the area. Instead, they meticulously planned to maintain the entire area to be ‘As it is’, with only minor changes hither and thither, rather to enhance and expose the hidden beauty. They protected the entire ‘Floral of the area and helped various wild plants to multiply in situ. They also introduced many rare and endangered plant species belonging to India and abroad and succeeded in their ex situ multiplication.
It is heartening to note that the weather conditions are quite pleasing with daily maximum and minimum temperatures being several degrees lower than the ones felt outside the Resorts in general, and the City of Hyderabad in particular, because of the greenery maintained in the area by the management.
A friendly invitation extended by Mrs. & Mr. G.B.K Rao, the CMD of the Pragati Group of Resorts, in the month of January, 2004, made the present author, to visit the Resorts and admire the entire Resorts area to be an ‘Oasis’ amidst the otherwise semi-arid part of the well known Deccan Plateau! The Oasis-look with lush Flora and plenty of water resources, and the interest evinced by the ‘Raos’ in the Tribal and Ayurvedic Systems of Medicine prompted the author to suggest them to bring out a brochure on the ‘Medicinal Flora of Pragati Resorts’. The Directors readily agreed to this suggestions and entrusted the author with the project of preparing a book on the subject, with detailed authentic information, rather than a mere brochure with brief data. Accordingly, field study of the Flora has been started in the month of April 2004. Regular monthly visits have been undertaken since then, in and around the existing Resorts and the ones under active development, such as K-Sector, Green Valley, Green Heights etc., including Nurseries and Farmlands within the Resorts. In addition to these, the areas covered by hamlets, scrub jungles, natural water courses, irrigated canals, cultivated and abandoned fields, borders of State and National High Ways etc., adjoining the Pragati Group of Resorts, have also been included. A minimum of 2 visits have been paid every month to all the above places for 12 months to record phonological data such as, flowering and fruiting seasons. All such data has been incorporated in the notes prepared for each plant. Important therapeutic properties and economic uses of all the botanicals have been compiled from earlier valid publications, including those of the present author, whose references have been provided at the end. Local / Telugu, Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi and English names are given wherever available. The part of plant used for Propagation is indicated for all the species. Valuable information revealed by the locals also, has been recorded faithfully and presented under ‘Local Information’. There is ample scope for gathering more such data on therapeutics, by contacting the local farmers, shepherds, Banjara tribals etc., through cordial meetings and interviews.
In all, there are 383 medicinal plants recorded in the present Flora. Of these, 249 are of wild origin. The remaining 134 are either under cultivation or have been raised in the Pragati Bio-Tech nurseries and gardens through saplings, root-stock, stem cuttings, bulbs and seeds. Surprisingly, some bulb material introduced into the gardens, turned out to represent a new taxon! A name Urginea raogibikei is, therefore, given to it as per the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, vide., at the end of the enumeration of the Medicinal Flora.
The information presented in this book cannot be claimed as complete. More data on, both the number of plant species and therapeutic uses, will have to be recorded and added in the future editions. The author hopes that this floristic information is of immense use for the Lovers of the Nature in general, and all those concerned with ‘Health & Happy Living’, like Researchers and Physicians of Herbal Medicine including Tribal Medicine, Teachers and Students of various Systems of Medicine, in particular. The readers are, however, expected to use these botanicals for medicinal purposes, strictly under the supervision of qualified Physicians in Herbal Medicine.
