Medicinal Orchids of Nepal
By Bijaya Pant & Bhakta Bahadur Raskoti – (2013)
104 pages; gloss art paper, with 148 colour photographs (including front & back covers), 2 tables & 1 colour map.
Soft Cover: 21cm x 14.5cm.
ISBN: 9937-577-35-9
Himalayan Map House (P.) Ltd., Kathmandu, Nepal.
Many people are probably not aware that wild orchids are one of the largest contributors as a plant family to the many medicinal medicines used by all kinds of people of western, eastern and other ethnic or minority cultures of Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australia, Europe and elsewhere. This is the first book to deal with this subject and the impact it is having on natural populations of wild orchids, which are in the majority of cases, exploited illegally for the trade. The emphasis of this book is on the Nepalese wild orchids and their use as medicinal plants and the real concern that many species, even once common species, are facing potential extinction in the wild.
A total of 90 species are covered in depth accompanied by a single good quality colour photo. Text data includes detailed plant and flower descriptions, flowering and fruiting times, habitat, altitudinal range, distribution and medicinal uses. There are many colour photos throughout the book not only showing the flowers of different species but also leaf and plant forms and tuberous and vegetative parts used in medicinal medicines. For species enthusiasts there are numerous colour photos of species not often found in other books from genera such as Coelogyne, Luisia, Herminium, Pleione, Platanthera, Otochilus and a few species of mention include Brachycorythis obcordata, Bulbophyllum careyanum, Crepidum acuminatum, Dendrobium eriaeflorum, D. monticola and Habenaria intermedia.
The grammar in this book is sometimes a bit obscure, however, do not let that detract from the objective of this book, which not only is an important first detailed account of the use of wild orchids as medicinal plants, which as such, exposes the massive contribution to the destruction and extinction of wild orchids from their natural habitat (due to illegal collecting for the medicinal plant trade). It further brings to our attention the importance for potential new medicines which could be derived from the numerous compounds found within wild orchids, which have not yet been explored by pharmaceutical companies – and finally with its full plant descriptions and compact size could even be used as a field guide in Nepal and other parts of Asia. This small yet very informative book is a significant reminder of the relentless and thoughtless destruction we humans are reigning down on this planet and this nicely illustrated publication should be on the book shelves of every school, naturalist, plant grower, herbalist and politician!
Rod Rice
Principal Reviewer
Nature & Travel Books