Edible Wild Plants of the Himalayas

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The Book was thus pitched at the level of those who may not have been initiated in the formal study of plant life and has, therefore, been structured to make it usable by them. The Introduction explains in ordinary terms the various aspects of a plant that aid identification. Index to local names, english names relates comprehensively to the various local names and dialects by which the plants maybe known in the diverse areas in the Himalayas. Recognizing its usefulness, the Army initially published it as a General Staff Training Publication. Conditions have since then significantly changed and the Army has now allowed it for wider usage. The Book will amply serve the purpose of mountain and jungle lovers, hikers, trekkers, explorers and holiday makers to take an informed and rewarding interest in the environment and the bounties of nature that so amply endow such areas.

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Born in August 1907 R.L. Badhwar was educated at Government College Lahore where he distinguished himself by topping both B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. examinations in Botany at the Punjab University. Even whilst in College, his collection of mosses from the Western Himalayas was mentioned by Prof S.R. Kashyap, one of the foremost botanists of his time, as probably the most comprehensive in the world. In 1929 he was deputed to the Kurram Agency to assess the possibility of developing the Santonin industry. On the publication of it, the then Director Botanical Survey hailed it as" one of the best enquiries in the field of economic Botany that has appeared in India for some time." On "Poisonous Plants of India," Sir Ram Nath Chopra commented "To Mr Badhwar goes very largely the credit of writing this monograph which will be one of the best publications in the field of economic Botany that has appeared in India for several decades." The review in "Economic Botany " 1954 Vol. 8, No. 3 Page 287 hails it when completed, as a storehouse of relatively up-to-date information, such as has not been published for any other country since Burkhill s "A Dictionary of the Ecomomic Products of the Malay Peninsula " appeared in 1935. This work earned him the title of Rai Sahib. Amongst his other publications are "Aromatic Plants of India" alongwith Dr. S. Krishna and later with Rao and Sethi. For a scientist of this stature, to reduce his language to lay understanding and user friendliness was itself no easy task but which the authors gladly undertook as a labour of love.