Though Cassia consists of large number of plants but during present investigation Cassia senna and Cassia occidentalis were examined.

Plants in folk medicines :- Herbs have been used in India since the time immemorial for curing diseases of man and his cattle . During the Vedic period ( 2000 B.C. – 800 B.C. ) ‘ Vrikshayurveda’ written by Parasar was a text-book for pre-medical students. In Europe, According to Arber (1938), the use of plants for curing diseases was advocated during the age of herbals which lasted from 1470 – 1670 A.D.

Medicinal plants used in traditional medicinal system India due to its unique variety of geographical and climatic factors had a rich and varied flora of medicinal plants. No wonder that out of a total number of over 15,000 plant species in India, about 2000 are known to have medicinal properties and some of them are used even as home remedies in the rural and remotest parts of our country (Arora, 1985). Ethnobotany

Jatropha curcas has now being extensively grown in India under the Department of Biotechnology supported micro mission projects with an object to identify, characterize and multiply high yielding strains and study their growth and productivity under different agro climatic conditions. In Rajasthan, Jatropha grows wild in south east Rajasthan which lies on south east side of Aravalli hill range which roughly divides the state in semi-arid and arid regions. Banswara, Bhilwara, Udaipur, Pali, Rajsamand, and Sirohi these districts of Rajasthan have huge strands of Jatropha growing under natural conditions. A detailed survey was carried out in these areas. 12 accessions were collected and 11 were analyzed for their oil contents.

 Future Prospects of BIOMASS FOR ENERGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Ashwini Kumar

Energy Plantation Demonstration Project Centre Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur - 302 004. India

Phone : 0091-141-654100 Fax : 0091-141-565905

Email : msku4@hotmail.com



INTRODUCTION