Peepal power
The Baiga tribe in Madhya Pradesh never misses the opportunity to savour the tender leaves of peepal
Textile therapy
A handloom trader experiments with traditional medicinal herbs for dyeing garments
A bushful of medicine
Seabuckthorn, a plant with numerous medicinal properties, grows wild in India. Rural communities are the losers
Global Eco Watch: Major ecological happenings of the week (July 1 – July 7)
Down To Earth brings you the top happenings in the world of global ecology
Taste the tangy
A little-known ingredient from Kerala, kodampuli, is full of medicinal properties
Sweet success for wonder fruit kokum
Local groups are helping farmers rewrite the story of the healthy fruit
COP15 Montreal: Tribals are sentinels of forest biodiversity, not destructors
From food to medicine, tribal knowledge has helped humans survive for thousands of years
Ensure ethical trade in wild plants, consumers urged
New report highlights how many wild plants used in everyday products are sourced without any consideration to supply sustainability
A fruit to treat diabetes
Elandha vada is a traditional nutritional snack that is fast disappearing from our food basket
A herb from Garhwal
Locals may not pay much attention to Bhilmoda because of its abundance, but the herb has many traditional medicinal properties
Listen... plants too speak
As early as in 1880, Charles Darwin demonstrated that plants could sense light, moisture, gravity, pressure and possessed several other qualities.…
On the wild side
Residents of Garhwal swear by the taste and health benefits of a lesser known vegetable
Herbs to heal cattle
In the absence of veterinary services, traditional medical practices for treating livestock remain popular in tribal villages
Blossoms with benefits
Heti flower adds variety to cooking when few options are available just before the harvest season in Maharashtra
Forestland benefits
Under the Lok Vaniki scheme, a farmer can extract benefits from his land by selling its produce, including timber
Paradise under fire
The beautiful Valley of Flowers, known for its flower diversity and fecundity, is caught in a strange controversy over ban on grazing
The secret gardens of Malabar
An English translation has been made exactly 300 years after the Hortus Malabricus was written, new, sinister designs seem to lurking behind it - …
No monkey business, this
Monkeys are more knowledgeable than humans about the medicinal value ofplants
Magical mushroom: Scaling up Ganoderma lucidum cultivation will benefit farmers, users
Ganoderma lucidum has over 400 chemical constituents with medicinal properties
Divine relish
Solanum torvum or the Turkey berry is known for its spiritual, medicinal and curative properties
Kagga in peril
This rice can tolerate brackish water but is on the brink of extinction. Can government save it?
Healing a tradition
A low-tech online network connects traditional healers and patients in Bhopal
Safeguarding ancient wisdom
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library is a useful weapon against wrongful patent
Reason to cheer
Meet two pioneering grassroots leaders nominated for the Equator Initiative Awards
Growing fences
Burgeoning population and agricultural encroachment in the last half century have erected artificial walls within the Gond tribes. These ethnic …