Bahadur Bir - Ethnobotany of India, Volume 4 Western and Central Himalayas

We wish to express our grateful thanks to all the authors who have contributed their chapters. We thank them for their cooperation and erudition. We also thank several colleagues for their help in many ways and for their suggestions from time to time during the evolution of this volume.

We wish to express our appreciation and help rendered by Ms. Sandra Jones Sickels and her staff at Apple Academic Press. Above all, their professionalism that has made this book a reality is greatly appreciated.

We thank Mr. John Adams, Senior Research Fellow of Prof. K. V. Krishnamurthy for his help in many ways.

We wish to express our grateful thanks to our respective family members for their cooperation.

We hope that this book will help our fellow teachers and researchers who enter the world of the fascinating subject of ethnobotany in India with confidence.

Editors

Editors: T. Pullaiah, PhD, K. V. Krishnamurthy, PhD, and Bir Bahadur, PhD

Volume 1: Eastern Ghats and Deccan

Volume 2: Western Ghats and West Coast of Peninsular India

Volume 3: North-East India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Volume 4: Western and Central Himalayas

Volume 5: The Indo-Gangetic Region and Central India

S. John Adams

R&D, Phytochemistry and Pharmacognosy, Sami Labs Ltd., Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore, India, E-mail:

Bir Bahadur

Department of Botany, Kakatiya University, Warangal - 505009, India,

Basant Ballabh

Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research, Defence Research & Development Organization, Goraparao, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India, E-mail:

O. P. Chaurasia

Defence Institute of High Altitude Research, Defence Research and Development Organization, Leh-Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Shalu Devi

Faculty of Forestry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology, Benihama, Srinagar - 191121, Jammu & Kashmir, India, E-mail:

Veena Dixit

Plant diversity, Systematics and Herbarium division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow - 226001, Uttar Pradesh, India

Yogesh Gokhale

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, India, E-mail:

Vaneet Jishtu

Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla - 171009, Himachal Pradesh, India, E-mail:

K. V. Krishnamurthy

Consultant, R&D, Sami Labs, Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore - 560058, Karnataka, India

T. Senthil Kumar

Department of Plant Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli - 620024, India

T. N. Manohara

Bioprospecting and Indigenous Knowledge Division, Rain Forest Research institute. Po. Box. 136, Jorhat, Assam, India.

Anju Majeed

R&D-Phytochemistry and Pharmacognosy, Sami Labs Ltd., Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore, India

G. Muthuraman

R&D-Phytochemistry and Pharmacognosy, Sami Labs Ltd., Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore, India

Chandra Singh Negi

Department of Zoology, Government Postgraduate College, Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand - 262502, India, E-mail:

Nazir A. Pala

Department of Forestry, Faculty of Horticulture, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari - 736165, Cooch Behar (WB), India, E-mail:

P. C. Pande

Department of Botany, Kumaum University, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India

T. Pullaiah

Department of Botany, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur - 515003, A.P., India,

E-mail:

A. Rajasekaran

Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore - 641002, Tamil Nadu, India,

E-mail:

Mamta Sharma

Department of Botany, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla - 171005, Himachal Pradesh, India, E-mail:

Harsh Singh

Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow - 226007, Uttar Pradesh, India,

E-mail:

Jagdish Singh

Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla-171009, Himachal Pradesh, India,

E-mail:

Joginder Singh

Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla - 171009, Himachal Pradesh, India, E-mail:

S. K. Sood

Department of Botany, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla - 171005, Himachal Pradesh, India

S. P. Subramani

Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore - 641002, Tamil Nadu, India, E-mail:

1 Department of Botany, Kakatiya University, Warangal 505009, India

2 Consultant, R&D, Sami Labs, Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore 560058, Karnataka, India

3 Department of Botany, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur 515003, A.P., India,

E-mail:

This introductory chapter deals with the scope of this volume. It gives a general account on the Western and Central Himalayas (covering the States of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), particularly the physical location, geology, climate and vegetation. It also introduces the other chapters of this volume which are related to the ethnic diversity, various aspects of ethno-traditional knowledge systems and ethnic conservation strategies.

The Indian subcontinent of Asia consists of the Himalayas, Indo-Gangetic plains, Peninsular India with its uplands and plateaus and the Narrow coastal plains along the seaboards (Valdiya, 2010). The Himalayas form the mountainous province that girdles the northern border of India. It is a structurally, lithologically, physiographically and evolutionarily distinct province that separates India from the rest of Eurasia. The composite Himalayas comprises the Kirthar and the Sulaiman mountain chains in the west, the main Himalayas in the center and the Patkai-Naga-Arakan-Yoma mountain ranges in the east. The Himalayas forms a 2,400 km long and 300-400 km wide region and embodies four physiographically different terrenes: the Siwalik, the Himachal (Lesser Himalayas), the Himadri (Greater Himalayas) and the Tethys Himalayas. The Siwalik Terrane abruptly rises above the almost flat Indo-Gangetic plains, is about 250 to 800 m. height and forms the southern front of Himalayas. It is mainly made up of the sedimentary deposits by ancient Himalayan rivers in the last 16 to 1.5 million years. The Siwalik is often broken by south-facing scarps and show long, and flat stretches called Duns.

Lying north of Siwalik is the outer Lesser Himalayas or Himachal which consists of Pir Panjal-Dhauladhar-Mussorie-Nainital-Mahabharat Ranges (generally more than 2,000 m high). North of these in the central sector (Kumaun and Nepal) is the Middle Lesser Himalayas (600-2,000 m high). The valleys of the rivers like Ravi, Sutlej, Yamuna, Ganga, Kali, Karnali, Kandaki, Kosi, Arun and Subansiri (most of these rivers are older than the regions which they cross) are characterized by deep gorges and defiles (Valdiya, 2010). The rocks of Lesser Himalayas are Precambrian and are more than 540 million years of age; these are often found along with volcanic and sedimentary rocks.

The Himadri or Greater Himalayas is perennially snow-capped and extremely rugged (with a height from 3,000 to 8,000 m). There are many mountain peaks such as Nanga Parbat (8,126 m), Nun-Kum (7,817 m), Daulagiri (8,172 m), Sagarmatha or Everest (8,848 m), Kanchanjungha (8,598 m) and Namcha Barwa (7,756 m). This region of Himalayas is made up of high-grade metamorphic rocks and gneissic granites.

Beyond Himadri is the Tethys Himalayas which has sedimentary rocks of late Precambrian (more than 600 million years old) to the Cretaceous and Eocene (95-45 million years old). It is a cold desert and is without vegetation. This Himalayan region ends up against the zone of collision of India with Asia, which is a 50-60 km wide zone of continental junction (36005000 m high). North of this is Tibet plateau. This Himalayan zone, also called Trans-Himalayas, makes up the Ladakh-Kailas-Gangadese ranges (Valdiya, 2010).