Natural Products of Silk Road Plants

Raymond Cooper, Jeffrey John Deakin, Raymond Cooper, Jeffrey John Deakin

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780367184513
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429589935
• Topic: Scienze biologiche
• Subtopic: Medicina alternativa e complementare

The Silk Road, a complex network of trade routes linking China with the rest of the Eurasian continent by land and sea, fostered transformation of the ethnic, cultural, and religious identities of diverse peoples. In Natural Products of Silk Road Plants there is a treasury of plants, many indigenous to countries along the trading routes of the Silk Road, that yielded medicines, cereals, spices, beverages, dyes, and euphoric and exotic compounds previously unknown to the rest of the world.

This entry in the Natural Products Chemistry of Global Plants series has been prepared for university students of chemistry and ethnobotany and for those wishing to broaden their knowledge. It opens a window on a vast region of Asia not well described for its flora and provides new and fresh insights on:

• Significant plants, some endangered
• Traditional and modern applications of extracts
• The biochemical and pharmacological properties of extracts
• Contains over 150 full colour figures

The significance of the Silk Road is being revived today through immense investment by China and other eastern countries in major schemes of transport infrastructure.

Section III
Central and Southern Asia

INDIA

3

Medicinal Plants of the Trans-Himalayas

Ajay Sharma

Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology Chandigarh University

Garima Bhardwaj

Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology

Pushpender Bhardwaj

Defence Institute of High-Altitude Research

Damanjit Singh Cannoo

Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology

Contents

Geographical Location of Trans-Himalaya

Ancient Silk Roads in the Region

Terrain of the Trans-Himalaya

Flora of Trans-Himalaya

Flora of Ladakh and Lahaul-Spiti in Trans-Himalaya

Five Plant Species from Ladakh in Trans-Himalaya

Arnebia benthamii

Classification

Distribution

Morphology

Traditional Uses

Phytochemistry

Bioactivity

Hippophae rhamnoides

Classification

Distribution

Morphology

Traditional Uses

Phytochemistry

Bioactivity

Podophyllum hexandrum

Classification

Distribution

Morphology

Traditional Uses

Phytochemistry

Bioactivity

Bioactivity of Podophyllotoxin Derivatives

Rheum webbianum

Classification

Distribution

Morphology

Traditional Uses

Phytochemistry

Bioactivity

Rhodiola imbricata

Classification

Distribution

Morphology

Traditional Uses

Phytochemistry

Bioactivity

Concluding Remarks

References

Geographical Location of Trans-Himalaya

The Himalayan region occupies 594,427 km² that is about 18% of the land area of India. The mountains are approximately 2,400 km long and 240–320 km wide (Pandey et al., 2006). Geographically, there are three main divisions:

• Eastern, comprising Assam, Sikkim, and northern India
• Central, comprising Nepal
• Western, consisting of Kumaon-Garhwal, Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh (Figure 3.1).

Trans-Himalaya is found to the north of the main range of mountains of the Western Himalayas and extends to 329,032 km²; 67.5% of which lies in Kashmir, 17% in Himachal Pradesh, and the remaining 15.5% in the hilly districts of Uttaranchal state (Pandey et al., 2006).

FIGURE 3.1 Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh in northwest India bordering Pakistan (Shutterstock: royalty-free vector ID: 329065256).

Ancient Silk Roads in the Region

The ancient Silk Roads comprised a network of routes that linked the Indian subcontinent, eastern and central Asia, the Middle East, and countries of the Mediterranean.

India was linked with the ancient Silk Roads by four major corridors (Fonia, 2019):

1. A route in the Tibet which went down to the Ganges and to Sravasti
2. A route in western Nepal which led to the productive valleys of the river Ganges
3. A route in the Western Himalaya via Srinagar, Leh, and the Sangju Pass
4. A route down the Ganges valley in West Bengal.

Ladakh, “the land of high-rising passes”, has an area of 96,700 km². At one time, Ladakh was an independent kingdom that occupied an important and strategic position. In ancient times, traders of the neighboring countries usually passed through Leh, the principal city of Ladakh. An important market developed there in which goods from the Silk Roads were traded through barter and currency (Dolma, 2017).

Terrain of the Trans-Himalaya

The cold desert landscape of Trans-Himalaya is administered by India and extends from north to south, from Ladakh, in Jammu and Kashmir, to Kinnaur, in Himachal Pradesh (Figure 3.2).

FIGURE 3.2 Kaza, Himachal Pradesh, India, in 2018 (Royalty-free photograph ID: 1444804982).

Trans-Himalaya is exposed to harsh climatic conditions attributable to two factors arising from its location at high elevation (3,000–5,000 m) on the leeward side of the Himalayan massif:

• Minimal precipitation and
• Extreme cold.

Also, the climate shows huge seasonal variation ranging from short and dry summers with harsh sunlight (maximum temperature reaching up to 36°C during the day) to long, windy, and freezing winters (minimum temperature touching −32°C at night). Water resources are minimal apart from glacier-fed streams (Singh and Gupta, 1990; Fox et al., 1994; Kala and Mathur, 2002; Chaurasia et al., 2007).

The soil is not very fertile, and the climatic conditions permit only a very short growing season. Other physical characteristics of note in the cold desert are high flux density in the ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum, low air density, low atmospheric pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide and vigorous winds (40–60 km/h) generally in the afternoon hours (Kala and Mathur, 2002; Chaurasia et al., 2007; Bhardwaj et al., 2019). Precipitation occurs mostly as snow during winter and soil moisture remains. The flora and fauna have adapted to these extreme conditions. However, most species occur in sparse populations.

Despite such inhospitable conditions, it is thought that the region has been inhabited by human beings since early times given the discovery of Lower Palaeolithic tools and prehistoric artwork. The region remains sparsely populated; human settlements are small and isolated and occur in river valleys.

Flora of Trans-Himalaya

Trans-Himalaya is well known for its rich flora of medicinal and aromatic plants amounting to about 1,000 species many of which are still in use (Pandey et al., 2006). There are at least 5,942 genera and 17,381 taxa of plants in western Himalayan region (Dhar, 1996; Nautiyal et al., 2000). Most of Himalayan aromatic and medicinal plant species belong Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Berberidaceae, Campanulaceae, Crassulaceae, Ephedraceae, Elaeagnaceae, Gentianaceae, Lauraceae, Lamiaceae, Liliaceae, Myrtacea, Papaveraceae, Polygonaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rutaceae, and Zingiberaceae families (Joshi et al., 2016).

Flora of Ladakh and Lahaul-Spiti in Trans-Himalaya

The flora of Ladakh and Lahaul-Spiti in Trans-Himalaya are found mainly in the alpine and high alpine zones, and are dominated by annual and perennial herbs followed by a few small shrubs and bushes. Owing to inimical climatic conditions, the cold desert has vegetation that differs from other Himalayan regions. The growing season starts at the beginning of summer in June when the snow begins to melt; flowers bloom during July to August and die out by the onset of winter from September to October. During this period, usually barren alpine meadows and mountain slopes are lush green as many varieties of alpine and high alpine flowers burst into life (Chaurasia et al., 2007; Kumar et al., 2011a and references therein).

The flora of Ladakh may be subdivided into three groups which are found in desert, alpine, and oasitic conditions. On the other hand, the flora of the Lahaul valley, which is situated further south, differs from Ladakh due to prevailing humidity. Here the flora is more extensive and may be further subdivided to include one more group: desert, alpine, oasitic, and temperate plants (Chaurasia et al., 2007; Kumar et al., 2011 and references therein).

Desert vegetation: Low humidity, little rainfall, high-velocity winds, and extreme fluctuation in diurnal temperatures are the main characteristic features of this zone. This zone includes long stretches of the Lahaul-Spiti and Ladakh regions (e.g...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Editors
• Contributors
• Section I Introduction
• Section II Eastern Asia
• Section III Central and Southern Asia
• Section IV Western Asia and the Middle East
• Section V Maritime Routes
• Bibliography
• Index