EXPLORING END PRODUCTS OF COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT MEDICINAL PLANT SPECIES AND THEIR USES IN NEPAL

Knowledge of end products of medicinal plants and their consumption can be useful for predicting future demand and planning for sustainability of harvesting. Neopicrorhiza scrophulariiflora (Pennell) D. Y. Hong of Scrophulariaceae family, (hereinafter referred to as N. scrophulariiflora) has medicinally important rhizomes with high levels of trade. Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) G. H. Sung, J. M. Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora (syn. Cordyceps sinensis Berk.) (hereinafter referred to as O. sinensis) is a medicinal plant found in subalpine and alpine Himalayan pastures, consisting of the fruiting body of a parasitic fungus and its host caterpillar, the alpine ghost moth of the genus Thitarodes. Aconitum spicatum (Bruhl) Stapf (hereinafter referred to as A. spicatum) belonging to family Ranunculaceae is a poisonous herb having tubers with medicinal value that grows in moisture retentive but well-draining soils of mountain meadows. This dissertation presents the end products of selected commercially important medicinal plants of Nepal and their uses. Read more