Botanical:

I have had the privilege of traveling a lot, quite often to rural places on assignment. In my quest for survival foods, folk medicine and in the pursuit of what the people of yesteryear ate, and how they survived, I developed a fondness for plants which had evaded me since childhood . As a child, I was more of an animal person. However over the years, I have learned to recognize the beauty in all of creation even among the so called dirty or nasty things of nature. Plants are some where in between and there is no limit to their usefulness for food, shelter, medicine and also for that all important element -Fire! In addition, plants don't run away when you try to get close to them to study and photograph them unlike animals and birds.

The modus operandi has been the same... find out the plant's local name and ask the locals how they or their ancestors used it. Next, search for a consensus online or in books for its botanical name (The difficult part). Finding the botanical name is like finding the key to a treasure and all at once you can find out through Google what many different cultures around the world use the same plant for and verify and cross check whatever information that can be checked. Whenever I have been able to try out and ascertain the uses for myself (I mostly do) I have clearly mentioned it.

I'm also realizing that of late, I've got an increasing collection of plants for which I do not have a consensus on the botanical name. In fact I recently got some information on a plant that has got two names in different parts of Bihar and have not yet been able find out its Hindi name, let alone its botanical name. After much thought, I've decided to post such specimens as they are, by one of their names. I'll update them when I know better, or if some other reader on the web can point me in the right direction.

A word of caution, which is also a disclaimer. Try things posted here at your own risk! In this age of litigation, all free information comes across with no warranty but only in the spirit of open information sharing!!

Some links that might interest you:

A database of plants & their uses Plants for a future

Cleaner Energy from firewood

Wild man Steve Brill [ You can buy an e-book from him on foraging]

Review: Nikon Monarch ATB Team RT 8 x 42 (dielectric) binoculars

By Benjy | Jul 15, 2011

1 Comment

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By Benjy | Jul 8, 2011

1 Comment

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