Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Network (MAPs-Net) Nepal

It has been estimated that the Himalayan region harbors about 8000 species of medicinal and aromatic plants, supporting the livelihood of about 600 million people living in the area. The medicinal plants of the Himalayas are a major source of income for communities in the region; they provide basic healthcare for millions of citizens and possess immense cultural value. This resource base in terms of the plants themselves and the knowledge of their use is being eroded at an alarming rate. Ensuring a sustainable future for this resource is a national imperative.

 

 

Information on Medicinal and aromatic plants are scattered and not easily available in public domain. Networking among the different stakeholders (institutions, experts, researchers, traders, farmers, and policy makers) is seriously lacking. In this context, it has been realized to develop a consortium or forum for the national networking of medicinal and aromatic plants in Nepal. To fulfill this need MAPs-Net Nepal has been planned and developed. The main purpose is to compile information on different issues of MAPs in the database in its own website and make the data accessible to all interested stakeholders.

In the first phase 36 potential medicinal and aromatic plants has been selected for database.

About the MAPs-Net Database

A comprehensive database on medicinal plants of Nepal has been systematically built up at ESON with the support from MAPPA/ICIMOD. The database is targeted for incorporating all available information on the medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) of Nepal. The number of MAPs species in Nepal ranges from 700 to 1850 species. Currently, this database incorporates 40 species of commercially important MAPs. The database contains more than 400 vernacular names in different languages like Nepali, Newari, Tamang, Mooshar, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Sanskrit, etc. along with detail botanical information. This database also incorporates several authentic digital images of plants and  all the sources are cited in the remark section.

Each botanical name has been assigned a unique Taxon ID number and links various aspects of information, for each species, data relating to different aspects through four main headings, viz. Taxonomy, Ecology, Uses and Conservation & Management; besides these, each species can be traced back to a published reference (details in database coverage section). The information in each heading can be quickly accessed for a specific plant entity with search being initiated with the help of a Latin name, local/vernacular name, family name or generic name, or any other option choosen by the browsers (for further details, please see the How to use section).

 

Database Coverage

Each species of medicinal plants included in the MAPs-Net database covers following information:
 

  • Taxonomy and nomenclature with respective digital image(s)
  • Description of plants: morphology, including habit and macroscopic characters
  • Phenology: with diagrammatic representation
  • Plant ecology: including habitat, distribution in Nepal and elsewhere, elevation ranges, with suitable GIS maps, based on herbarium specimens (deposited in Nepal, Japan and the U.K.)
  • Uses: parts used with suitable digital image(s), medical system, ethnobotany, traditional uses and therapeutic uses
  • Phytochemistry: information on principal constituents and other active constituents with digital image(s) of chemical structure, wherever possible
  • Market information: trade information with chart(s), digital cuts of news in Nepalese press
  • Conservation and Management: conservation status of the species, government royalty, in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures and practices, based on secondary literature
  • References and remarks: list of all the literatures cited and reviewed for generation of the information on the species is given. Similarly, remark on the species incorporates acknowledgement of the source of digital images used in the database.

Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal (ESON)
107 Guchha Marg, New Road, MJ Mart, 6th Floor
Kathmandu, Nepal. Phone: 016213406
E-mail: info@eson.org.np; url: http://www.eson.org.np/

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