eChapters

Botanical Name: Anacardium occidentale L.

Family: Anacardiaceae

Chromosome No: 42

Place of Origin: Brazil

Common Name: Cashew, cashew tree, caju

7.1 Introduction

Cashewnut (Anacardium occidentale L.) is an important tropical tree crop which leads the edible nuts in international trade with 29% market share only after hazelnuts (35%) and followed by walnuts (21%) and almonds (16%). It is one of the major exports earning crops which accounts nearly Rs. 2515 crores contributing about 1.5% of the total Indian exports. It was only during the past two decades it gained the status of horticulture crop. India is the world’s largest producer of cashewnut. The cashew cultivation area in India during 2018-19 was 10.89 lakh hectares with an annual production of 743 thousand metric tons of fruits. Maharashtra is a much-advanced state for horticulture which occupies large area (1.9 lakh hectares) under this crop (Directorate of Cashew & Cocoa Development, Cochin, Kerala). Cashew exports amounted to over 566 million U.S. dollars from India in fiscal year 2020. This included cashew kernels and cashew nut shell liquid. India’s main export markets for this commodity included South Korea, China, Spain, United States and Belgium (Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare).

Botanical Name: Coffea arabica, Coffea canephora

Family: Rubiaceae

Chromosome No: 44, 22

Place of Origin: Africa

Common Name: Coffee

8.1 Introduction

Coffee is widespread throughout the tropics with more than 70 species. All cultivated species originate from Africa. Economically important today is Coffea arabica (Arabica, 64 % of world production) and Coffea canephora, (Robusta, 35 %). It is cultivated worldwide on approximately 10.3 million hectares and represents the sole economic income for more than 25 million families. The crop is produced and exported by more than 60 nations and ranks as one of the top cash crops in developing countries with 3.19 lakh MT production per annum in India in 2018-19 from more than 459 thousand hectares crop area. The coffee plant is a fast-growing tropical bush tree, with two types of shoots: upright growing orthotropic main shoots (stem), and horizontally growing plagiotropic shoots (branches). Traditionally, coffee trees are cultivated only for the berries, which are processed using dry or wet techniques directly in the growing areas to the final raw product, green coffee; this serves as the basis for various coffee products. Both the coffee species tolerate shade and share quite similar growth requirements with various forest crops and trees, thus predisposing them to be grown in agro-forestry ecosystems.

Botanical Name: Camellia sinensis L.

Family: Theaceae

Chromosome No: 30

Place of Origin: China

Common Name: Tea

9.1 Introduction

Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) of family Camelliaceae or Theaceae is the oldest and second most widely consumed beverage in the world following water. Tea is an evergreen plant that mainly grows in tropical and subtropical climates. India is world’s 2nd largest tea producer after China with production of 1.25 million tonnes in 2020. In India it is grown in an area of 6 lakh hectares, contributing one fourth of world total tea production annually. Interestingly, India is also the world’s largest consumer of the beverage and using nearly 30 percent of the world’s tea output. India stands third in terms of tea export after Kenya (including neighbouring African countries) and China. The total tea export was US$ 501.16 million in April 2020 to November 2020 and for November 2020 it was US$ 71.61 million.

Botanical Name: Phoenix dactylifera L.

Family: Arecaceae

Chromosome No: 2n = 36

Place of Origin: Countries around Persian Gulf

10.1 Introduction

Date palm is a nutritive fruit rich in sugar and iron and predominantly seen in desert oasis. It is the main fruit crop in arid and semiarid regions, particularly in the arid regions of western Asia and North Africa. The palm tree is well adapted to desert environments that are characterized by extreme temperatures and water shortage. Beyond the arid climates, date palm can also be grown in many other countries for food or as an ornamental plant including the continents of Americas, Southern Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The majority of date palm growing areas are located in developing or underdeveloped countries where dates are considered the primary food crop, thus playing a major role in the nutritional status of these communities. By-products from date palm are used in building structures, animal feed, and also in several items such as baskets and ropes. The date palm tree has been in cultivation since 2400 BC. It is one of the oldest cultivated fruit trees on earth. India is the leading importer of dates. According to FAO statistics, in 2011 India was the largest world importer of dates (256,295 mt) and its neighbour Pakistan, in 2012, was the world’s sixth largest producer (600,000 mt). The major date palm growing areas in India are Kutch (Gujarat), Rajasthan and certain parts of the Punjab, as well as Tamil Nadu state to some extent. In Kutch, there are more than 2 million date palms, the majority of them grown from seeds and offshoots, providing a huge biodiversity for experimentation and improvement of products. Efforts by the Indian government in the last decade have resulted in an increase of date palm cultivation from 8,973 to 16,000 ha and establishment of a prominent effort in Rajasthan (Shah, 2014).

Botanical Name: Hevea brasiliensis

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Chromosome No: 2n =36

Place of Origin: Amazon basin in Brazil

Common Name: Rubber tree, Rubber plant, Para rubber tree

11.1 Introduction

Rubber is a fast-growing tropical tree and mainly grown for the production of latex. In 1495, Columbus was the first person to report about latex. The latex was used for rub out pencil marks and this gave the product name as rubber. The latex is used for production of various rubber products. The most important application of latex rubber was initially accomplished in the 1880s when the rubber was used for making motor cars tyres. When rubber is heated with sulphur, it retains the physical properties.

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.