Medicinal Plants in Kerala

Kerala forests are rich with a variety of medicinal plants that usually find its way to several ayurvedic medicines. From down south Agastyarkoodam to northern Nilamboor, there are different forests, which provide a rich supply of Kerala medicinal plants.The careful use of medicinal plants in Kerala for different ailments comes in tune with the general tradition of south Asia, where you can see about 90% of the total population depending on herbal remedies. The relative absence of side-effects also makes medicinal plants in Kerala forests a special attraction.Medicinal plants in India counts to more than 2500. More than 1500 species of medicinal plants can be found in Western Ghats. The other belt in India with high concentration of medicinal plants is the heights of Himalayas. Medicinal plants are extremely sensitive to climate. The tropical medicinal plants you find in Kerala cannot be found elsewhere in the world. Same is the case of almost all medicinal plants you find elsewhere in South Asia. They are all confined to specific locations.Kerala has different schemes to protect the medicinal plants and also to cultivate such plants on a large scale to sustain the supply. Today organic farming is the most sought out way of medicinal plant cultivation as the plants produced through such methods possess all the natural qualities of the plants.Organic farming of medicinal plants in Kerala can be a relatively new thing. It is because of the rich availability of medicinal plants as forest produce. But now a concerted move is on to protect the natural supply of medicinal plants and to deliver to the global demands of medicinal plants from Kerala forests.