It was during my Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) class, I realized how fulfilled we are at least medically. Our sir had ask us to collect at 25 MAPs for the herbarium.

I was shocked to hear the number 25. I was like ?Hey, I can barely collect few. 25 is overwhelming.?  Weeds and ornamental plants, insects collection were easy to do but MAPs that?s pretty out of my hit. That was what my follish assumption were. After Herbarium information we had our MAPs lectures.

Me and my friend Bibek then started our MAPs voyeur. We started reading PDFs files that had plethora of information. Needless to say, my jaws were wide opened to see so many plants holding importance medicinally.

We even went to Forestry Department of Chitwan District. There too we came to know about lots of medically important trees. Thanks to hospitable nature of  experts there.While exploring the department,I saw nursery plants there. I knew as an organisation we could ask for the sapling. But acceptance of Individual request was something I was unaware of. Knowing we could take sapling, I requested for 2 plants. Then I couldn?t resist myself and asked for 5. No this doesn?t stop there. I came back home with 10 seedlings. My mom and dad's and neighbours expression was amusing. I simply can't wait to see these tiny seedlings grow. :D

It was information from Forestry department and MAPs PDF I come to realize many plants that we neglect and  even coined agriculture weeds holds medical value like Bryophyllum pinnatum, Lantana Camara, Ageratum conizoides, Callotropis sps, Cyndon dactylon, Euphorbia hista, etc.  Even plants like Mango, Bakaina( Melia azadirach), Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Pisidium Guajava, Catharanthus roseus, etc hold medical importance. That was lot of information for me.

Some of the popular MAPs that we used to use include Neem (Azadirachta indica), Ficus religiosa, Carica papaya, Cassia fistula, Citrus sps, Cinnamomum tamala, Eugenia jambolana, Nephrolepsi, Artimisia vulgaris,  Thea sinensis, Roses, Chrysanthemum indicum, Cinamomum camphora, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Ocimum basilicum, Asparagus racemosus, etc.

I have uploaded screenshot of the pdf that I read and have handsome number of plants with its importance, scientific name and other necessary information. Dig into it. Try to search some more out in your neighborhood as well. Who knows useless plant of yesterday could be your homemade remedy for today.

Everytime I see plants I question myself 'Could that be medicine.'

Nature is amazing and full of surprises. Biodiversity is enormously intriguing. Explore more!!!