eChapters

18.1 Library Introduction

This library contains modules for various types of functionalities. Some commonly use module of python standard library are:

(i) math module: which provides mathematical function to support difference types of calaculations.

(ii) cmath modules: which provides mathematical function for complex number.

(iii) random module: which provides function generation random number.

(iv) staticstics module: which provides mathematical satical function.

(v) urllib module: which provides URL handling function so that you can access websites from within your program.

1. NmPy library, provides some advance math functionalities along with tools to create and manipulate numeric arrays.

2. Scipy library, provides algorithmic and mathematical tools for scientific calculations.

19.1 Python Turtle Graphics

Turtle is a special feathers of Python. Using Turtle, we can easily draw in a drawing board.

First we import the turtle module. Then create a window, next we create turtle object and using turtle method we can draw in the drawing board.

19.2 Some Turtle Method

Example

from turtle import *

t = Turtle() #object in python

wn=Screen()

wn.title(?my first graphic”)

wn.bgcolor(?yellow”) #color filling in window

t.shape(?turtle”) #turtle shape given

t.color(?red”, “green”)

20.1 Unit Testing in Python Programming

The process of testing wheather a particular unit is working properly or not is called unit testing. A unit test checks small component in your application

Example

def testsum1():

assert sum([1,2,3])==6 def testsum2():

assert sum([1,1,1])==6 #assertion error

testsum1()

testsum2()

20.1.1 Step Involved in Unit Testing

(1) Import unittest from library.

(2) Create a class for test and inherit (unittest.TestCase).

(3) Write the test function in the class.

(4) Call unittest.main()

Plants have been used by man from prehistoric times to relieve from suffering and to cure various ailments. Primitive people, when injured in battle or when they had a fall or cut, they instinctively resorted to materials available at hand for staunching the flow of blood or for the relieving of pain and, by trial and error, they learnt that certain plants were more effective than others when used for these purposes. Man has also gained such knowledge from his observation of birds and animals that have been using plants for curing their ailments. Even today, we find that the domestic dog and cat, when they suffer from indigestion or other ailments, run to the field, chew some grasses or herbs and get cured. The folk medicines of almost all the countries of the world abound in medicinal plants and tribal people wherever they exist, rely chiefly on herbal medicine, even today.

Today, chemical and pharmaceutical investigations have added a great deal of status to the use of medicinal plants by revealing the presence of the active principles and their actions on human and animal systems. Investigations in the field of Pharmacognosy and Pharmacology have supplied valuable information on medicinal plants with regard to their availability, botanical properties, and method of cultivation, collection, storage, commerce and therapeutic uses. All these have contributed towards their acceptance in modern medicine and their inclusion in the pharmacopeias of civilized nations.

Morphological characteristics

Abroma is a shrub or small tree that grows to a height of around 3-5 metres. The plant has horizontal and velvety branches that are 10-30 cm long, 6-18 cm wide, oblong or lanceolate, more or less cordate, delicately acuminate, membranous, whole, and three to five lobed with a petiole that is 1-12 cm long. The dorsal surface of the leaves is glabrous, while the ventral surface is hairy.

Floral characteristics

The plant has beautiful and intricate scarlet like flowers (5 cm in diameter) bearing purple colour. The inflorescence is a cyme. The sepals are persistent and lanceolate, measuring about 2.5 cm long. The petals are imbricate and will shortly fall off. Stamens are situated on a short staminal tube, and there are five staminodes. Each cell in the ovary is five lobed and pyramidal, with numerous ovules. The apex, the capsules are obpyramidal, membranous, finely pubescent, and truncate at the apex. Behind each carpel is a triangular wing. December and January are the fowering and fruiting months.

Morphological characteristics

A. balfourii Stapf is an erect, glabrous shrub that grows upto 1.5 m in height. The plant has branched stems which are dull purplish brown in colur that reach about 1.2 m high. Lower leaves are long stalked while the upper ones are short. The plant has long heavy tubers with 7 to 12 cm in length. Roots are tuberous and fusiform.

Floral characteristics

The plants bears about 29 cm long inflorescence with numerous flowered racemes along with the yellow tomentum. The flowers are hermaphrodite and the mode of pollination is by bees. Sepals are helmet shaped, pubescent and blue in colur. The upper two petals are hooded and enveloped in the helmet, and the below two are glabrous. The stamens are many, the filaments are hispidulous, and the pollen is three-colpate. Carpals are yellowish, 3 to 5 in number and tomentose. Follicles range in size from 2 to 5, are sessile, and silky pubescent. Along the raphe, the seeds have a broad winged appearance. The months of September to November are ideal for flowering and fruiting in A. balfourii.

Morphological characteristics

It is a glabrous aromatic perennial or biennial herb, 1-2 meter tall. Stem is hollow. Root is thick rhizomatous. Leaves are unipinnate, bipinnate, or tripinnate, large pinna is toothed, ovate or lanceolate.

Floral characteristics

Inflorescence is compound umbel with numerous rays. Flowers are white, yellow or purple in colour, bracteate; florets white or purple. Seeds are small in size and winged. Fruits/seeds are 1.25 cm by 0.6 cm in size.

Distribution

The plant is endangered in status, which is distributed in Western Himalaya from Kashmir to Uttrakhand, in alpine scrub and forest shades between 2700-3700 meters.

Morphological characteristics

This plant is a large evergreen tree about 20 meters tall and 1.5–2.4 meters in girth with somewhat straight and fluted bole. Leaves are alternate 0.5-10 cm by 2-5 cm, oblong, lanceolate or elliptic, caudate, acuminate and glabrous with slender nerves. Venation is parallel. Petiole is 0.3-0.5 cm long. It is commercially used as fragrant and in prepation of drugs. The tree contains plenty of oleoresin and has irregular dark patches. The wood burns with a bright flame giving off pleasant smell.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are bisexual, white in colour, pedicillate, in both axillary and terminal umbellate cymes, shortly pedunculed, perianth, companulate, lobes 5 spreading and densely pilose. Pedicels is 0.5-0.8 cm long, slender. Perianth remains persistent in fruit and 1.3-1.5 cm long, silky densely villous, connate at the base. Stamens are 10, anthers 10 with subsessile disc. Ovary is subsessile, villous and two-celled. Stigma is large, subsessile. Fruit is capsular, 3-5 cm long, obovoid, pericarp coriaceous and densely tomentose. Seeds are ovoid with a long tail.

Distribution

The crop is found in parts of Bengal and North-Eastern States of India covering Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

Morphological characteristics

The plant is a monoecious undershrub that grows up to 3.5 metres tall and has serrated leaves and stiff branches that emerge from the root. Lower branches feature big, typically broad, elliptical, three- to five-lobed leaves with rounded bases, while above branches have small, lanceolate leaves. Petioles range in length from 5 to 15 cm.

Floral characteristics

The flowers are unisexual. The calyx of male flowers is globose, 2.5 mm long, four to five partite, glabrous or slightly pubescent, membranous, finely mottled with a disc of six glands, and glabrous or slightly pubescent. There are approximately 20 stamens in each flower. Sepals are ovate-lanceolate and glabrous, and the disc is roughly 2.5 mm in diameter in female flowers. Fruit is a three-lobed capsule that is around 8–13 mm long and hairy. Seeds contain an oily endosperm and are speckled and smooth. Flowers bloom in January–February, followed by fruit that mature a month later.

Distribution

The species grows in tropical and subtropical places with rainfall of around 1000 mm, such as the Himalayan foothills, Kashmir to the Khasi hills, and especially in the Vindhyas southward. In North and East Bengal, Chhota Nagpur, and peninsular India, it is fairly frequent.

Morphological characteristics

Caesalpinia sappan is a thorny, small to medium-sized plant with prominent spines on the stem and leaf rachis that grows up to 10 metres tall. Branchlets are lenticellate, dull, and usually have paired, recurved stipular prickles. With 9–14 pairs of pinnae, the leaves are big, hairy, or glabrate.

Floral characteristics

The inflorescence is a supra-axillary and terminal raceme with golden yellow flowers that creates a huge panicle. The fruit is an elliptical pod that ranges in colour from brown to black. The peak flowering and fruiting season is from July to September, with November being a rare exception.

Distribution

The crop is native to the Indo-Malayan region. The species can be found throughout the Indian peninsula. It is also produced as a plantation crop in all of the Southern states, as well as in Odisha and Bengal to the north.

Morphological characteristics

The plant is an erect undershrub, 1.5–2.5 m tall. Leaves are elliptic-oblong to lanceolate or ovate to ovate–lanceolate, 12–25 × 5–11 cm, acute or acuminate at apex, acute or cuneate at base, glabrescent, crenate-dentate; densely stellate–tomentose beneath; petiole 4–12 mm long; Fruits globose, drupes or berries, white to yellowish-brown with or without fruit stalk, fresh being succulent, 1–3 mm in dia. Intact fruits are smooth and brownish in colour and exhibit centrally located bilocular carpel and 4 nutlets each embedded with a yellowish white seed, in a transversely cut surface of a fruit;

Floral characteristics

Flowers appear in July-November are small, 0.5 cm long, pink in colour and crowded in axillary peduncled globose cymes, solitary, pedunculate or sessile. Flowers are bisexual, actinomorphic and fragrant. Calyx 4 or rarely 5 toothed, pubescent, corolla infundibular, 4 or rarely 5 lobed. Stamens are 4, exserted, anthers oblong 2 loculed, dorsifixed. Ovary is superior, 4 lobed, 4 loculed, 1 ovule in each locule, style short, stigma 2 lobed. Flowering & fruiting occurs during June–Dec. Fruits when tasted at first are somewhat sweet, later bitterish; fruit has fragrant odour specially after slight bruising the fruit. The fruits of Callicarpa macrophylla are edible.

Distribution

Plants of this species grow in open and secondary forests along the upper Gangetic plains, West Bengal Plains, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Kashmir, Assam, and northern Andhra Pradesh up to an altitude of 1800 meters. The species grows in other places worldwide, such as Nepal, Indonesia, China and South Korea.

Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora) known under the names camphor tree, camphorwood or camphor laurel of the family Lauraceae is obtained from the bark of camphor tree that is a principle source of camphor. It has its use throughout the globe and along the centuries as an ailment for various remedies that help in treating issues like irritations, pains, inflammation, congestion, etc. In addition to this Cinnamomum camphora also owns suppressive and anti mutagenic effect that is useful in treatment of deadly disease like human cancer cells retaining the healthy cells. Indian religious system is well versed with the utilization of Camphor in rituals, however the camphor used here is made synthetically.

The botanical name Cinnamomum camphora is derived from Greek language from the word ‘kinnamomon’ which refers to spice. This herb has its earliest record that is used by Egyptians for embalming purposes. Along with this it also finds its use in Sanskrit literature also. Camphor tree is a fragrant evergreen tree that is native to China, India, Mongolia, Japan and Taiwan and a variety of it is grown in Southern United States; especially in Florida. The species Camphora, referred to as camphor or karpura, is an important chemical ingredient present in the oil that found in the tissues of tree.

Morphological characteristics

It is a tall tree that grows up to 100 feet. The trunk is 8 m long and 2 m wide and bark is yellowish brown colored rough on the outside and smoother inside with vertical fissures. All parts of the tree have peculiar fragrance of camphor. Leaves are fragrant, leathery and are yellowish light to dark green with glossy veins with varied shape.

Synonyms

Menispermum fenestratum Gaertn., Coscinium peltatum Merr., C. wallichianum Miers, C. maingayi Pierre, C. usitatum Pierre, C. blumeanum Miers var. epeltatum Boerl., C.wightianum Miers, C.miosepalum Diels, C.fenestratum var. macrophyllum Yamamoto, C. fenestratum var. ovalifolium Yamamoto, Pereiria medica.

In India, vernacularly it is known as Haldigach (Bengali), Tree turmeric, False calumba, Columbo weed (English), Jhar-I-haldi (Hindi), Maradashina, Maramanjali (Kannada), Maramanjal, Manjavalli (Malayalam), Jhade-halade, Venivel (Marathi), Darvi, daruharidra, Pitadaru (Sanskrit), Venivel, Bangwellgetta (Sinhalese), Maramanjal, Manjalkodi, Atturam, Kadari, Udaravi, Pasamantram, Imalam (Tamil), Manu pasupu (Telugu).

Morphological characteristics

It is a huge dioecious tree that can reach a height of 10 metres and has yellow wood and sap. The slices of stem and root are stiff and woody. The colour of the wood is yellowish-brown on the outside and yellow on the inside. The substance is found in huge woody, cylindrical, straight sections with a diameter of up to 10 cm; branchlets are terete, brown tomentose, and subsequently glabrescent with disciform petiole-scars. Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, broadly ovate, rounded, truncate or shallowly cordate at base, acuminate at apex, 10-32x8-22 cm, glabrescent above, hoary yellowish-white tomentellous beneath, thinly coriaceous; main nerves 5-7, palmate, with 2 pairs of distal lateral nerves; midrib and other main nerves sunken, whitish tomentose beneath above basal margin on the lamina of leaf; stipules absent.

Morphological characteristics

Kalimusli roots are 5–22 centimetres long, cylindrical, tuberous, and 0.5–0.8 centimetres thick. Brownish on the outside, with noticeable transverse creases that are loosely spaced. Externally, lateral roots are robust, fibrous, dull white in colour, and spongy, with a length of 5 cm or more. When freshly cut, tuberous rootstock has a starch-white colour within and is mucilaginous. Simple, sessile leaves are clustered on a short stem with sheathing leaf bases that taper into a little petiole, giving the plant an almost radical aspect. They are 15–45 cm long and 1.2–2.5 cm wide, linear or linear–lanceolate, membranous, glabrous or sparsely soft haired, and are linear or linear–lanceolate, membranous, glabrous or sparsely soft haired. When the leaf tip comes into contact with the earth, it develops roots and creates adventitious buds.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are epigynous, bright yellow, bisexual or unisexual, with a lanceolate and membranous bract. The perianth is found at the top of a lengthy, sterile ovarian extension that extends above the ground. With six equal lobes measuring 1.5 cm and sparsely hairy along nerves on the interior, the perianth is gamotepallus. The ovary is tricarpellary, syncarpous, and trilocular, with a long, slender beak (stipe). Flowering and fruiting occur largely from October to January, with intermittent flowering and fruiting occurring all year.

Some species of turmeric have been documented from China, Australia, and the South Pacific, despite the fact that turmeric has been farmed all throughout the tropics. Turmeric along with the 110 species is found growing in Tropical Asia, with India, Myanmar, and Thailand having the most diversity. Black turmeric (Curcuma caesia), along with Curcuma aromatica, Curcuma amada, Curcuma aeruginosa, Curcuma longa, and Curcuma zanthorrizha, is one of the economically important species native to India. Curcuma caesia (black turmeric/ black zedoary) is a critically endangered perennial herb in the Zingiberaceae family native to India. Traditional healers employ the Curcuma genus to treat a variety of diseases in ethno medical traditions, but Curcuma caesia Roxb. is a relatively unknown and unexplored medication. In the Indian subcontinent, black turmeric is frequently used as a spice, food preservative, and colouring ingredient. Black turmeric is the most recent spice to be chemically studied, with a few papers describing 100 or more secondary metabolites from this plant, and it will continue to be a source of new bioactive chemicals.

Distribution

Black turmeric is a native of Northeastern and Central India, where it has long been used in traditional rituals and medicinal treatments. Within an altitudinal range of 200–1000 m, the species is found in moist deciduous woods, primarily in Bengal, North East, and Central India. It develops as a woodland ground cover in subtropical to temperate climates.

Curcuma zedoaria (zedoary or white turmeric) is a perennial herb and member of the genus Curcuma, family Zingiberaceae. The plant is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia but is now naturalized in other places including the US state of Florida. Zedoary was one of the ancient food plants of the Austronesian peoples. They were spread during prehistoric times to the Pacific Islands and Madagascar during the Austronesian expansion. Its use as a spice in the West today is extremely rare, having been replaced by ginger, and to a lesser extent, yellow turmeric. Curcuma Zedoaria (Berg.) Rosc.syn. C. zerumbet Roxb; Amomum zedoaria Christm., the Kasthurimanjal of commerce, is also known as Round zedoary in English, Kachura in Sanskrit and Kakhur in Hindi.

Morphological characteristics

Zedoary is a rhizomatous annual or biennial herb with a long, scented stem. It stands at 1.8 metres tall. On the inside, the rhizomes are large and pale yellow or yellowish. The roots are fragrant, and the tubers are ellipsoid in shape. With the exception of a bitter aftertaste, the edible root of the zedoary has a white interior and a mango-like scent; however, its flavour is more similar to ginger. Although there is no obvious aerial stem, the shoot has a pseudo stem made up of four to six long and densely overlapping sheathing leaf bases. The leaves are enormous, up to 1 m long, rectangular and strongly veined, and frequently violet in colour in the centre.

Morphological characteristics

Plant is terrestrial glabrous herb attends height of 20-25 cm. Tubers slightly flatten ed, palmately divided into 3-5, finger like lobes. Flower stalk upto 90 cm Long, erect, hollow, leafy throughout or the lower portion bear few sheathing scales. Leaves are 4-6, cauline, leaf blade oblong to linear lanceolate, 8.0-15.0cm x 1.5-3.0 cm in size, base sheathing, apex obtuse or acuminate.

Floral characteristics

Inflorescence is raceme, 5.0-15.0 cm long, crowded with many flowers. Flowers are purple and the bracts green, narrowly lance shaped, lower bract longer than the flowers, upper slightly shorter. Flowers are about 1.8 cm long, including the curved spur. Sepals and petals are nearly equal. Three of them form a hood and the two sides spread outwards. The lip is rounded and shallowly 3-lobed, spotted dark purple. Spur straight, cylindrical, nearly as long as the ovary; column very short; anther adnate to its face, cells diverging; pollinia 2, caudicles attached to 2 small globose, viscid glands enclosed in a minute pouch overhanging the broad, 2-lobed stigma.

Distribution

This attractive terrestrial orchid grows in damp pastures of Himalayas from Kashmir to Nepal at the altitude of 2500-5000 m MSL.

The genus Dioscorea comprises of approximately 600 species and sustains livelihood around the globe. Air yam, aerial yam, bitter yam, cheeky yam, potato yam, and parsnip yam are all names for Dioscorea bulbifera L., a traditional medicinal plant native to Asia, Northern Australia, America, and tropical Africa. It’s been used in traditional medicine for a long time and has a lot of potential.

Morphological characteristics

It is a perennial herbaceous climber that can reach a height of 10-20 metres and has multiple fibrous roots. The leaves are alternating, broadly cordate, and bright green in colour, with rounded basal lobes arising from one of them. Aerial tubers (bulbils) are circular, smooth-surfaced tubers that grow freely in leaf axils. Annual stems emerge from a tuberous, woody rootstock. These stems either creep along the ground or climb up the surrounding vegetation. Dioscoreaceae subfamilies are distinguished by the presence of bisexual and unisexual blooms. Seeds are trilocular, dark brown, and somewhat winged (1.2-1.6 by 0.5 cm).

Floral characteristics

Flowers are grouped in spikes that are hanging, axillary, solitary, or fascicled. The seeds are winged at the base, while the capsules are oblong and winged. The fruit has three valves and the perianth is tubular. From September to November, the plant blooms and bears fruit.

Morphological characteristics

It is an annual/perennial herb with prostrate spreading branches in all directions. The root system is deep. Leaflets are 2.5-5 cm long, elliptical, oblong and rounded at base. Leaves are densely clothed with white appressed and long spreading hairs. In nature, seedlings appear after 2-3 showers during July-August. Generally, the seedlings are abundant under the canopy of trees or shrubs. The young seedling grows straight and produces lateral branches during first week of August. The lateral branches spread in all directions. The flowering starts during first week of August. Fruit formation takes place in the last week of August, while flowering still continues. The dispersal of the seeds takes place from September to December. Plant dries during November-December.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are blue in colour and axillary in position. They are either solitary or in pairs on the long stalk. Styles are two and each is bifid. Fruit is globose with four-valved capsule containing dark brown to black smooth seeds. The flower colour varies from dark purple to whitish-purple.

Distribution

Plant is commonly found growing in open and grassy places, almost throughout India, ascending upto 1500 meter in the Himalayas. It is cultivated also in the sub-tropical parts of India, ascending upto 1800 meter elevation.

Morphological characteristics

It is a moderately deciduous tree with straight trunk and numerous spreading branches, which form large shady crown with whitish grey corky lenticellate bark, exfoliating in thin flakes. It has a clear bole of 6.0-9.0 meter, and a girth 1.5-2.5m. Branchlets and young parts are clothed with fine white mealy pubescence. Leaves are simple, opposite, broadly ovate, cordate, glandular, glabrous above when mature and fulvous-tomentose beneath. It attains its largest dimension in the mixed forests of moist region as in the eastern sub Himalayan track, Assam and elsewhere in south India.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are 2.5-5.0 cm in diameter, brownish yellow that ends in terminal panicle. Calyx is campanulate, pubescent outside and with 5 lobes. Corolla is showy, brownish yellow with short tube and oblique limbs. Stamens are 4 in number and didynamous. Ovary is 4 chambered with one ovule each; style slender ending in a bifid stigma. Fruits are drupe and obovoid in shape, 1.8-2.5 cm long, pericarp leathery, shining yellow outside when dry; endocarp bony, embedded in an aromatic sweetish pulp. Seeds are 1 or 2, hard and oblong ex-albuminous. The panicles of flowers appear from February to April.

Distribution

Though it is a native of Asia, it has extensively been planted in tropical areas of Africa, Asia, Australia, America, West Indies, and on several islands in Pacific Ocean. In India, it is naturally distributed in Eastern SubHimalayan tract, Aravali Hills, Western Peninsula, Indo-Gangetic plains, Western Himalaya and Central India. It occurs naturally from 5° to 30°N longitude and between 50 to 1300 m elevations.

Diabetes mellitus is a severe endocrine illness that affects almost 10% of the world’s population and is a serious public health concern. In its most severe form, the disease affects major body systems, resulting in multiorgan problems. Oral hypoglycemic medicines such as sulphonylureas and biguanides are the most commonly used treatments, although their negative side effects are a significant drawback. Herbal medications are gaining popularity as a result of their superior outcomes and safety when compared to commercially available drugs, as well as their ability to address health problems more effectively.

Plants with anti-diabetic qualities are of particular interest to the ethnobotanical community since they are known to contain useful medicinal properties in various parts of the world, and a number of them have demonstrated variable degrees of hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic action. Several plant species that are high in terpenoids, flavonoids, phenolics, coumarins, and other bioactive compounds have been found to lower blood sugar levels.

Gudmar (Gymnema sylvestre Retz) is a valuable medicinal woody climber from the Asclepiadaceae family. The medicinal climber is well-known for its antidiabetic qualities. Its formulations have potent taste modifying properties, reducing sweet taste sensations in particular. Gymnema sylvestre is known in Hindi as gurmar, which means “sugar destroyer.” The plant has become vulnerable as a result of increased demand and destructive harvesting. The genus is classified into 40 species, some of which like G. sylvestre, G. montanum, G. yunnanense, and G. inodorum have medicinal properties. The leaf extracts contain gymnemic acids, the major bioactive constituents that interact with taste receptors on the tongue to temporarily suppress the taste of sweetness.

Inula racemosa is an Asian plant in the daisy family native to the temperate and alpine western Himalayas of Xinjiang, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan. Inula racemosa Hook. f., is a critically endangered perennial herb distributed throughout the Himalaya; commercially useful in pharmaceutical products.

Morphological characteristics

The species is a perennial herb that grows up to 1.5 metres tall & has a scented root and rootstock. Large number of stems ascend from the rootstock’s base. Leaves are leathery, rough above and densely hairy below, 25-50 cm long and 10-12 cm wide, and elliptic-lanceolate in shape, 25-50 cm long and 10-12 cm wide.

Floral biology

Flower heads are yellow with bisexual florets and arise in terminal racemes. Flowering takes place from January to July, while fruiting takes place from October to November. Fruits (achenes) are slender and about 0.5 cm long.

Juniperus communis, the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae. This evergreen conifer has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere from theArctic south in mountains to around 30°N latitude in North America, Europe and Asia. Relict populations can be found in the Atlas Mountains of Africa.

As to be expected from the wide range, J. communis is very variable, with several infraspecific taxa; delimitation between the taxa is still uncertain, with genetic data not matching morphological data well.

• Subsp. communis – Common juniper. Usually an erect shrub or small tree; leaves long, 8–20(–27) mm; cones small, 5–8 mm, usually shorter than the leaves; found at low to moderate altitude in temperate climates.
• Subsp. communis var. communis – Europe, most of northern Asia
• Subsp. communis var. depressa Pursh – North America, Sierra Nevada in California
• Subsp. communis var. hemisphaerica (J.Presl & C.Presl) Parl. – Mediterranean mountains
• Subsp. communis var. nipponica (Maxim.) E.H.Wilson – Japan (status uncertain, often treated as J. rigida var. nipponica)

Morphological characteristics

Nardostachys species is a perennial rooted herb with a strong woody main root that grows 10-60 cm tall. The rootstock is strong and lengthy, with petioles of withered leaves clinging to it. The stems are pubescent above and glabrate below. Leaves are both Cauline and radical. Cauline leaves are sessile, occur in two to three pairs, are 2.0 cm 0.6 cm in size, decrease in size from base to top, and are oblong or sub-ovate in shape. Radical leaves are large (15-22 cm 1.5-2.5 cm), six to eight in number, longitudinally nerved, slightly pubescent, and narrow down into the petiole, whereas cauline leaves are sessile, occur in two to three pairs, are longitudinally nerved, The jatamansi rhizome is dark brown, tapered, and densely coated with the remains of old leaf bases, giving it the appearance of a heavy beard, and hence the name jatamansi. The fibrous rhizome may be 6-9 cm long with about 20-30 cm-long yellowish taproot. A single root may bear 30-50 rhizomes.

Floral characteristics

Flowering shoots are 30–40 cm tall and produce 40–50 blooms in three to seven condensed cymes at the summit. Flowers are campanulate and range in colour from pinkish red to bluish white. The hairy corolla tube is 6 mm long. The 4-mm-long hairs on the fruit are capped by the sharp, often dentate, calyx teeth. Flowering takes place between June and August, depending on elevation, while fruits takes place between September and October. Seeds are gathered in October when they turn pale brown in colour.

Operculina turpethum (OT) Silva Manso, also known as Tihudi/Trivrit due to its triangular stem, is an Ayurvedic herb from India that belongs to the Convolvulaceae family. Indian Jalap/Turpeth root in English, Nisoth/Turpeth/ Panila/Pithori in Hindi, Trivrit in Sanskrit, Tegada in Telugu, Trikolpakkonna/ Triputa/Sivata in Malayalam, Sigade in Kannada, and Kumbham/Sivatai in Tamil are some of the other names for it. It grows up to 1000 square feet on Indian roadsides and is occasionally cultivated as an adornment in gardens.

Morphological characteristics

The crop is a fragrant perennial creeper with a basic stem that might be triangular or rectangular. The leaves are many and oval in shape, measuring 2 to 5 inches in length. It consists of cylindrical pieces of root and stem, 1.5-15 cm long x 1-5 cm diameter, with the central woody portion removed by splitting the bark on one side, external surface longitudinally furrowed giving the drug a rope-like appearance, odour distinct but unpleasant or musty, taste bland at first, then slightly acrid, fracture short in bark and fibrous in wood, odour distinct but unpleasant or musty. The root portions are cylindrical, twisted, and a dull grey tint on the outside. The flower arrangement is 1 to 4 inches long and includes three to four branches with white blooms. Fruit is round ½ or ¾ inch in diameter, it bears 4 shiny 2 inch long seeds. The plant bears fruits and flowers from March to December.

Oroxylum indicum (L.) Vent. (family Bignoniaceae Juss.) also known as Broken bones tree, Indian trumpet flower, Midnight horror, Shivnak, Sonapatha and Shyonaka. O. indicum is being used as medicinal herb for thousands of years without any known adverse effects. The tree is named as ^”Tree of Damocles^” after an incident depicted in an ancient story by Cicero. O. indicum Vent is a small or medium sized deciduous tree growing throughout Asia continent. It has been used traditionally for a wide diversity of ailments such as cancer, diarrhea, fever, ulcer, jaundice and arthritis. Destructive and non-sustainable collection methods coupled with low regeneration and habitat destruction have posed serious threats to the survival and availability of this highly useful tree. The existence of O. indicum in natural population is highly threatened and it has been categorized as endangered and vulnerable by the Government of India. There have been number of scientific studies conducted to evaluate the toxic effects of the plant. Almost all the studies have shown that O. indicum is not toxic to humans even up to high doses.

Morphological characteristics

O. indicum is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree with soft light brown or greyish brown bark and corky lenticels that grows up to 12 metres tall. The leaves are big, 90-180 cm long, 2-3 pinnate with 5 or more pairs of primary pinnae, rachis is fast, cylindrical, swelling at branch junctions, leaflets are 2-4 pairs, oblong or elliptic, acuminate, glabrous. The enormous leaf stalks wither and fall off the tree, accumulating towards the trunk’s base and resembling a jumble of broken limb bones.

Pistacia integerrima Stewart (Pistaceaceae) is an ethnobotanically important tree native to Asia. Pistacia integerrima is a species of pistachio tree native to Asia, commonly called zebrawood or the crab’s claw. It is often classified as Pistacia chinensis ssp. integerrima.

Pistacia integerrima, commonly known as kakra shingi, is a moderate-sized deciduous tree, up to 18 m in height, with a short stout bole found in the Himalayas from Indus to Kumaon. Hard, horn-shaped, rugose, hollow galls like excrescences are formed on the leaves and petioles of the plant by an insect of Pemphigus species. Dry powdered galls have a very astringent and slightly bitter taste and terebinthine odour. This tree is also used as a rootstock in the cultivation of commercial pistachios

Morphological characteristics

It is a moderate sized deciduous tree with rough grey bark. Leaves are 15-23 cm long with or without a terminal leaflet. Leaflet is stalked, 4-5 sub-opposite pairs, lanceolate, coriaceous, entire and arched. Flowers are greenish-yellow or brownish in colour, dioecious, 0.2 cm diameter, reddish in lateral, puberulous panicles, appearing with or just before the young leaves.

Plants containing lignans have been utilised as folk medicines in traditional medicine of many different cultures for over 1000 years. Plants high in lignin, such as Kadsura coccinea (Schizandraceae), Fraxinus sp., and Olea europaea, have long been employed in Chinese, Japanese, and Eastern world folk medicine. Lignans are an important family of starting products for the development of new therapeutic agents based on structural modifications of such compounds due to their widespread use in traditional medicine. Podophyllum hexandrum, a plant with a high lignin concentration, has been employed throughout history and in modern times. It has been used extensively in ancient Ayurvedic medicine to treat a variety of disorders such as Condyloma acuminate, Taenia capitis, monocytoid leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, cancer of brain, lung, bladder and venereal warts.

The Himalayan locals have long used Indian Podophyllum, with an aqueous extract of the roots being a frequent cathartic. It has also been used as an ophthalmia treatment. Thomson tested the resin from the Indian plant in 1890 and found 56 percent podophyllotoxin concentration. Podwyssotzki discovered podophyllotoxin as the active principle of podophyllin in 1880 and obtained it in a pure state. Several lignans have been found in the rhizomes of Podophyllum hexandrum, which are dimerization products of phenylpropanoid pathway intermediates linked by the central carbons of their side chains.

Morphological characteristics

Straight bole, longitudinally fissured bark, imparipinnate and elliptic leaves, fragrant flowers in huge panicles, and winged, flat pods distinguish Pterocarpus species in the field. The tree can grow up to 30 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide, with a straight and clean bole. The bark is scaly, tough, and fissured longitudinally. Leaflets are five to seven in number, 8–13 cm long, oblong or elliptic in shape, or rotund in shape, with 15–20 pairs of lateral veins. Kino-gum is a fragrant, brittle, almost black oleo-resin obtained from tree trunks that is angular and glistering and comes in minute flakes..

Floral characteristics

Yellow flowers bloom in panicles that are 1–5 cm long and fragrant. Flat, orbicular, winged pods with a diameter of up to 5 cm. Seeds range from one to three in number, are bony, and have a convex form. Flowering starts in November, and fruits lasts until March.

Distribution

The tree can be found in central and peninsular India, primarily in dry mixed deciduous tropical forests in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, as well as sub-Himalayan tracts, at elevations of up to 1000 metres. Natural populations have plummeted, and there are hardly any fragile young saplings in the forest. Due to a lack of autogenic reproduction, this species is endangered.

Morphological characteristics

Rewand chini is a perennial stout herb, 1.5–3.0 m tall. Roots are very stout and thick. Leaves are radical, orbicular, or broadly ovate, very large, and 30–45 cm in diameter with long petioles.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are small, dark purple or pale red in axillary panicles. The plant has three to five years of juvenile phase, followed by reproductive phase. Flowering occurs in June–July. Seeds are collected in late August–September, when they turn dark brown. Seed production potential varies from 300 seeds to 950 seeds per plant.

Distribution

The species occurs in the temperate Himalayas, from Kashmir to Sikkim, at an elevation of 2800–4000 m. It is found in alpine zone on rocky soil, moraines, and crevices, between boulders and near streams in specific pockets. It is sporadically cultivated in the North-eastern states for its leaves, which are used as vegetable.

Climate and soil

Rewand chini plant is restricted to the temperate, sub-alpine, and alpine zones of the Himalayas. Well-drained, porous, humus-rich soil is suitable for its cultivation. It prefers exposed or partially shaded habitat and can be cultivated on altitudes above 1800 m in height.

In the coffee family Rubiaceae, Rubia cordifolia L. (RC) is a useful medicinal plant in the Ayurvedic system due to its many pharmacological characteristics. It is also known as common Madder or Indian Madder. It was grown for a red pigment generated from the roots. Rubia was divided into roughly 70 species that were found all over the world, including 36 species and two variants described from China. Because of their high bioactivities, Rubia plant extracts and phytochemicals have gotten a lot of interest.

Morphological characteristics

It is a perennial, prickly climber with a stem, growing up to 12 m long. Leaves are highly variable, ovate lanceolate, 5-7 nerved, 2-10 cm long and 2-5 cm broad, occurring in whorls of 4-6. The stems are slender and quadrangular. The leaves are simple, opposite and stipulate, the stipule is interpetiolar. The petiole is 1.5–3 cm long. The blade is lanceolate, 1.5–5 cm × 0.5–2.5 cm, cordate at base, obtuse acuminate at apex and displays three to five longitudinal nerves. Roots are perennial, long, cylindrical, and rusty brown in colour

Morphological characteristics

Strychnos nux-vomica is a medium sized deciduous tree. The trunk is tall, thick, straight and cylindrical covered with yellowish-grey to dark grey, smooth and thin barks. Wood is dense, hard white and close grained. Branches are irregular and covered with smooth ash colored bark and shiny dark green young shoots. Leaves are broad, opposite, simple and entire, smooth, short-stalked, blade orbicular to broadly elliptical or ovate, base rounded to cordate, apex shortly acuminate or acute, glabrous and shiny above, minutely hairy especially on veins beneath, 3–5-veined from the base.

Floral characteristics

Inflorescence is terminal cymes, many-flowered and appears with young leaves at the end of branchlets or on axillary shoots. Flowers hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, homogamous, greenish-white colored, small in size, nectariferous, funnel-shaped and emits unpleasant odour. Flower are pentamerous; calyx lobes ovate, outside densely hairy. Corolla bears a slender tube of 1 cm long, abruptly widening at the throat, outside glabrous, having pubescence at base, lobes narrowly ovate, of 3 mm long, margin thickened and minutely hairy, greenish white to white; stamens inserted at the mouth of the corolla tube, exserted altering with corolla lobes. Anthers pale cream in color, dithecous, introrse and dehisce longitudinally. Ovary is superior, ovoid, glabrous, bicarpellary with axile placentation. The style is filiform, glabrous and as long as the corolla tube, stigma capitates (head-shaped).

Morphological characteristics

Tecomella undulata is a slow growing small deciduous tree with drooping branches and grey-tomentose innovations which are otherwise glabrous. Leaves are usually opposite, 5- 10 cm long, simple, narrowly oblong, obtuse and entire with undulate margins.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are pale-yellow to deep orange, arranged in few flowered corymbose racemes on short lateral branches. Calyx is campanulate, lobes broadly ovate, obtuse and mucronate. Corolla is companulate, veined, stamens exserted, flaments glabrous, stigma 2-lamillate. Capsules are slightly curved, smooth and seeds are winged.

Distribution

Plant is distributed in drier parts of North-West and Western India extending eastwards to the river Yamuna and ascending to an altitude of 1200 meter in the outer Himalaya.

Climate and Soil The plant prefers subtropical climate having medium to light soil.

Tinospora cordifolia (Thunb.) Miers (family: Menispermaceae) commonly known as “Amrita” or” Guduchi” of “Giloy” is a climbing shrub found throughout India. T. cordifolia has high medicinal value in the world and is also the number one recommended natural herb for the Indian system of medicine (ISM) which has been used over centuries to treat various diseases. The roots and stems contain several secondary metabolites having curative properties. The species is endemic to India and is common throughout tropical and subtropical zones at an altitude of 600 m.

Species

• Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers ex Hook. F & Thoms
• Cocculus cordifolius DC.
• Menispermum cardifolium Willd
• T. glabra (N. Burm.) Merr.

Morphological characteristics

It is a big climber that grows over the highest trees in the forest and produces aerial roots up to 10 metres long. It’s a sprawling climbing shrub with a slew of elongated twining branches. Giloy leaves are simple, exstipulate, alternating, with long petioles up to 15 cm long, pulvinate, and roundish at the base and apex, with the basal one being longer and twisted partially and halfway around. Oval-cordate or roughly oval lamina, 15-20 cm long and 10-15 cm wide, 7 nerved and deeply cordate at base, glabrous above, membranous, whitish yellow with a conspicuous reticulum beneath.

Morphological characteristics

A large elegant evergreen tree, grows up to 30 m. high, with a clean, cylindrical bole of 15 m. and a girth of 4.5 m. Bark is rough, whitish to grey, peeling off in thick round flakes. Leaves are coriaceous, Ovate to Oblong, entire (Leaf falls in March, new foliage appears in April-May, the second flush of foliage starts after rains, in October to December.) Fruit is a Capsule, ovoid, pale brown, fleshy, 8 to 11cm long, and 3.5 to 6 cm in Diameter. 1 seeded, reddish white, filled with fat. Ripens during June to July.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are bisexual, about 2 cm across, white, slightly fragrant, arranged in panicles. Panicle is robust, multi-branched, up to 15 cm long and drooping. Fruit is capsules, 4-6 cm X 2-4 cm in size, pale brown, fleshy, hard when dry, splitting by 3 valves when ripe.

Distribution

A slow-growing species, Endemic & found primarily in the South west coast evergreen forests, upto an altitude of 750 m, and also occasionally in secondary evergreen dipterocarp forest in the states of Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu.

Violaceae

Morphological characteristics

Banafsha is a small perennial herb with a short semi-subterranean fleshy stem (rootstock).The older parts bear fibrous roots. The upper younger portion is marked with close circular scars of the leaves of the previous years, and gives off elongated, rather fleshy, leafless runners. Leaves are ovate and crenate–serrate.

Floral characteristics

Flowers are borne on long, slender, axillary stalks (scapes) exceeding the leaves. Flowers are lilac, blue, white or purple in colour and borne on the main stem, the larger ones being 6–12 mm in diameter. The flowers arising from the axils of the cauline leaves are minute. The cleistogamous (underground) flowers measure about 1 mm across. Fruit is a few seeded, globose capsule. Flowering occurs during February–March, while fruiting occurs during April–May.

Plants are used as medicine since time immemorial. One of the area of Ethnobotany, Ethnopharmacology is considered as the scientific evaluation of traditional medicinal plants (Cotton, 1996). Cox (1994) has suggested that the ethno-directed sampling is most likely to succeed in identifying drugs used in the treatment of gastrointestinal, inflammatory and dermatological complaints. The Plant kingdom is a virtual goldmine of potential drug targets and other active molecules awaiting to be discovered. It has been estimated that only 10 - 15 per cent of the 7,50,000 existing species of higher plants have been surveyed for biologically active compounds.

Dietary supplements from plant sources are sometimes referred to as phytopharmaceuticals. They are produced from fresh, dried or otherwise preserved plants or parts of plants. The active ingredients are usually not completely isolated but rather are obtained along with other naturally occurring components of the plant. These other components are often believed to influence the efficacy of the active ingredient. Sometimes the active ingredients are concentrated, and undesirable substances such as chlorophyll, tannins, or resins, are removed.

Phytochemicals from various parts of a plant or tree such as the leaves, the flowers, the seeds, the barks, the roots and the shrubs can be isolated. Once one comes in from collecting plants in the field, it is good idea to freeze them immediately in a freezer at – 20°C or a commercial freezer held at – 80°C (Kaufman et al., 1999). According to Harborne (1984, 1998), fresh plant tissues should be used for phytochemical analysis and the material should be plunged into boiling alcohol within minutes of its collection. Alternatively, plants may be dried before extraction.

Extraction is a process whereby the desired constituents of a plant are removed using a solvent. The primary ways for extraction of organic molecules of interest to biologists and medical investigators involve breaking open the cells. Cell rupturing is carried out in a variety of ways. The method used depends on the type of tissue used. For plant cells grown in cell suspension culture or for plant callus tissue, a French press or a sonicator can be used to break open the cell.

The different qualitative chemical tests can be performed for establishing profile of given extract for its chemical composition. The following tests may be performed on extracts to detect various phytoconstituents present in them.

All separation procedures depend mainly on some physical characteristics of the compounds. It is relatively easy to separate compounds that have significantly different physical characteristics by simple techniques such as solvent extraction. If the various compounds are similar to each other in their molecular size, any slight difference in any one of their physical properties is exploited to achieve separation. 

For qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytochemicals, chromatography can be used. Gas chromatography is a powerful means of performing qualitative and quantitative measurements of complex mixtures of volatile substances, which are vaporizable without decomposition.Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) system is a widely used instrument for qualitative and quantitative analysis of solid, liquid, and gaseous samples. Samples are converted into gaseous ions and then separated on the basis of their mass-tocharge ratio. 

After isolation and purification of the compound, it has to be identified. It is necessary to find out the class of the compound first and then to find out the specific compound within the class. The class of compound is usually determined from the colour tests, solubility, Rf properties and UV spectral characteristics of the compound. Further identification within the class depends on measuring physical properties and spectral measurements and then comparing these data with those in the literature.

Phytochemicals are the individual chemicals from which the plants are made. Phytochemical is simply a word that means plant chemicals. Plants have the ability to synthesize mixtures of structurally diverse bioactive compounds with multiple and mutually potential therapeutic effects. The plants have the capacity of manufacturing the secondary products. Phytochemicals with antioxidant properties tend to be brightly colored because they contain chromophores, ie, a series of alternating single-bonded and double-bonded carbons. Isoprene is often the building block of such units. The darkest green vegetables contain the most chlorophyll, and vegetables with the most chlorophyll require the most antioxidants.

The following plants have been worked out in the laboratory of Prof. N. Raaman: Cynodon dactylon, Artemisia pallens, Leptadenia reticulata, Clausena dentata, Tylophora indica, Aristolochia bracteolata, A. indica, Cissus quadrangularis, Hypericum mysorense. and Solanum trilobatum. Out of some of the data of these plants have been included in the previous chapters. In this chapter, compound isolation (CD1) from Clausena dentata (worked by Dr. R. Kamaraj) and characterization of the compound are given in detail.

Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. Alkaloids showed quite diverse medicinal properties (Rates, 2001). Many of them possess local anesthetic properties, but their practical use is limited for clinical purposes (Hesse, 2002). Morphine is one of the most known alkaloids isolated from Papaver somniferum (opium poppy), which had been used and still is for medical purposes. This alkaloid is a powerful narcotic which is used for the relief of pain, but its usefulness is limited because of its addictive properties.

Phenolic compounds constitute a major class of plant secondary metabolites that are widely distributed in the Plant Kingdom. Plant phenolics are biosynthesized through the shikimate/phenylpropanoid pathway leading to different compound classes. They may occur in their natural sources in free forms, as glycosylated or acylated derivatives, and as oligomeric and polymerized structures, such as hydrolyzable and condensed tannins, phlorotannins or lignins. They may also be found linked to plant matrix components such as cell walls, carbohydrates or proteins. It should be indicated that although the terms “plant phenolics” and “polyphenols” are indistinguishably used by some authors, they are not synonymous.

Anthocyanins are members of the flavonoid group of phytochemicals, a group predominant in teas, honey, wines, fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive oil, cocoa and cereals. The primary players in this group include the anthocyanins (eg, cyanidin, pelargonidin, petunidin), flavonols (quercetin, kaempferol), flavones (luteolin, apigenin), flavanones (myricetin, naringin, hesperetin, naringenin), flavan-3-ols (catechin, epicatechin, gallocatechin), and although sometimes classified separately, the isoflavones (genistein, daidzein) (Skibola and Smith, 2000).

Essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic oily fragrance liquid extracted from plants, containing easily evapourated chemical compounds at room temperature. Essential oils are extracted from the different plant parts including the flowers, leaves, stem, bark, and roots, and they are extracted from different techniques. The most preferable method of extraction is hydro distillation which is easy to use and cheap. Essential oils are used in every field of life, used in aromatherapy, and act as antifungal, antioxidant, anxiety, pain relievers, and depression.