Cultivatingmedicinal plants ensures that they are preserved for your own use and for
future generations. Many fruits provide medicine as well as food. These include
banana, pineapple, mulberry, Ginkgo biloba, Apple, Apricort, Kiwi,Walnut passion
fruit and Grapes. Food plants that also provide medicine include Onion, Garlic,
Groundnut, Cabbage, Chilli, Coffee, Pumpkin, Sunflower, Sweet potato, Rice, Maize, Ginger, Black pepper and Sesame.
Other plants are grown
just for their medicinal qualities and are essential in a medicinal garden. The
range of plants will vary according to country but may include Milk
Thistle seeds,Silybum marianum seed , Thymus serpyllum, Melia azedarach,Vitex
negundo,
Fumaria
officinalis, Malva sylvestris,
Paonea
Officinalis,
Paonea
emodi, Cuscuta reflexa,
Cordia
latifolia, Pinus longifolia,
Pinus
wallichiana, Eclipta prostrate, Ruta Graveolens, Hyoscyamus niger, Abutilon
indicum,
Berberis
aristata,
Valeriana
wallichina, Nardostachys jatamansi, Ziziphus jujube,
Polygonum
aviculare,
Abelmoschus
esculentus, Acacia speciosa, Brassica juncea,
Lactuca
sativa,
Parmelia
perlata, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Mentha
arvensis, Argemone Mexicana,
Pastinaca
sativa,
Anacyclus
pyrethrum, Punica granatum, Plantago ovate, Mentha spicata,
Centella
asiatica, Salvia haematodes, Rheum
rhabarbarum,Shorea robusta,
Sapindus
mukorossi ,Urtica dioica, Rhus soriaria, Helianthus annuus,
Berberis lyceum,
Juglans
regia,
Juglans
nigra, Lupinus albus, Withania somnifera,
Indigofera tinctoria,Indigo,
Achillea
millefolium,Nigella sativa,Kalonji seeds, Asparagus officinalis, Mint,Mintha
spp.,
Mountain
Mint-Pycnanthemum pilosum, Nicotiana
seeds-Nicotiana rustica,
Plantain
seeds, Plantago major, Lemon balm seed,Melissa
officinalis, Hyssop officinalis-Hyssop seeds, Hops vines, Cascade,Humulus
lupulus,Mount hood,
Great
Mullein seed, Elderberry, Sambucus spp, Carthamus Tinctorius, False
Saffron,
Ferula
asafetida
Ferula
Asafoetida,Ferula jaeschkeana, Gul-e-Dawoodi, Anise hyssop seeds, Agastache foeniculum, Artemisia seeds, Wormwood,
Artemisia absinthium…
Make
sure that overenthusiastic collection does not mean these plants die out in the
wild.
Contour
hedges
Before
you plant medicinal plants, plant hedges along the contour lines to prevent
soil erosion, fertilise the soil, and provide shade. The lines should be 2–4
metres apart on sloping ground and 5 metres apart on level ground. Useful
species include…
·
lemon grass (Cymbopogon
citratus), a medicinal plant
·
leucaena (Leucaena
leucocephala) a legume which improves soil fertility
·
Cassia spectabilis which
grows readily from metre-long cuttings
·
pigeon pea (Cajanus
cajan)
·
moringa (Moringa
oleifera) which produces edible leaves and beans which are rich in protein,
vitamins and minerals.
Every
year at the start of the rainy season,
trim the hedges back to a height of about one metre, and work the leaves into
the soil.
Trees
Plant fruit trees round the edges or alongside the garden.
Depending on the soil, climate and altitude, include mango, tamarind, orange,
papaya, guava and avocado trees. All these fruits are rich in vitamins A and C.
Plant
neem trees if the climate allows. They have many medicinal, insecticidal and
other properties. They grow well, even in dry climates.
Planting methods
If possible, make two gardens – a demonstration
garden and a production garden. For the production garden,
it is useful to establish a nursery to propagate seeds and small cuttings. It is better to sow in alternate lines
or to mix up the various medicinal plants, as they would grow in the wild. In
this way the plants provide shade for each other, and it is possible to reap a
harvest in the dry season as well.
Learn
from experience whether the plants grow best in full sun or in the shade, and
whether they need a lot of water or a little. Observe carefully where they seem
to flourish in the wild.
Demonstration garden
Set aside a small area as a demonstration garden which you can
use for teaching purposes with medical staff, traditional healers, school
children and teachers. Plant examples of
each plant known to be used in traditional medicine. Place this garden near the
road – for example near the entrance to a clinic or hospital – so everyone who
passes can see it.
Label your plants
In the demonstration garden, give each plant a label, on which
you write both the local name, the scientific name and its uses. Old iron
sheets and plastic buckets can be cut up to make useful permanent labels. Write
with a permanent marker. The scientific name is important, as visitors from
another country – or maybe even from the next village – may call plants by
quite different local names.
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