For the past six years, nature lovers have spent days walking down the green valleys surrounding Chhotanagpur plateau in search of medicinal plants to set up a herbarium of medicinal plants

It is difficult for a nature lover to check himself after a walk down the beautiful Chhottanagpur valley. Most are, however, disappointed when they cannot spot the chirai gorwa even after walking deep into the Taimara jungle, behind the Nalgarha mountains.

Two species of medicinal plants are gradually disappearing from Jharkhand?s undulating terrain. The situation demands the immediate attention of botanists.

While local people refer to these trees as chirai gorwa and pojo, botanists know them as vitex peduncularis and litsea monopetala.

Chirai gorwa can easily be identified with the help of its three-foliate leaf and winged petiole. A paste made from the bark serves as a blood purifier and is also used to cure malaria and fever. The bark paste also relieves chest pain and is used to treat snakebites.

When used with the roots of chitway (Plumbago zeylanica) and khapara sag (Boerhaviadiffusa) it cures kala-azar. In fact, chirai garwa bark paste is used as a substitute for tea for long. There is a belief that it helps relieving muscle pain and tiredness.

According to Budhu Tuti, a retired teacher of Taimara at Bundu in Ranchi, there are people in the area who are addicted to the paste of the bark. That is why the trees are being randomly chopped. In normal circumstances, a tree attains a height of 40 to 50 feet and three-to-five feet girth. Besides, the wood of these trees is strong and light.

Villagers use the wood to make the yoke for buffaloes. These factors have posed serious threat to the existence of chirai garwa and thus it has been placed at risk.

Another tree whose cry has become persistent is pojo called as common grey mango in English. It is a medium size tree attaining about 25-30 feet height .Its bark paste is viscous and sticky in nature.

Due to this characteristic it is used as a sticking material in cottage industries. The bark is being used as a plaster over fractures or sprain in case of both man and animals.

In each plaster a good amount of bark is required. Powdered bark is applied on the body to provide relief in pain inflicted by blows or bruises and also as a cure to skin diseases. It is also used as anti-septic on fresh wounds.

Bark extracts is provided orally in case of dropsy. It is mixed with semal (Bombax ceiba) thorns, the bark of amra (Spondias pinnata) bark and doka (lannea coromandelica) and used to treat chicken pox.

In addition, its wood is also used to make agricultural instruments and its leaves are food for cattle.

No doubt pojo is a useful tree but its unplanned exploitation has driven to the verge of extinction.

The few chirai gorwa and pojo trees that exist in the forest of Taimara and other areas of Chhotanagpur are a sorry sight. Unchecked felling of these trees has given environmentalists a cause to worry.

Unless immediate steps are taken, the dream of setting up a herbarium might never come true.

Sudhanshu Bandana