Pharmacognostical studies on Calotropis procera (Ait.) R.Br.
Ashwani Kumar
Calotropis procera (Asclepiadaceae) is a wild shrub, which grows upto a height of 1-3 m and its leaves are 10-13 cm wide by 17-19 cm long. Calotropis procera commonly known as Akra is a popular medicinal plant. This plant is very drought resistant and grows throughout the Sahelian countries, notably in Burkina Faso.
Medicinal properties:
“Nature has been a source of medicinal agents for thousands of years, and an impressive number of modern drugs have been isolated from natural sources, many based on their use in traditional medicine.” These plant-based traditional medicine systems continue to play an essential role in health care, with about 80% of the world’s inhabitants relying mainly on traditional medicines for their primary health care. Plant products also have an important role in the health care systems of the remaining 20%, who reside in developed countries. About 25% of prescription drugs dispensed from community pharmacies in the United States from 1959 to 1980 contained plant extracts or active principles derived from higher plants.
BIODIVERSITY OF INDIAN DESERT
Amit Kotia and Ashwani Kumar
Biotechnology Lab, Department of Botany
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur – 302004 INDIA
ABSTRACT
Climbers and twinners:
Cocculus pendulus (Forst.) Diels.; Celastrus paniculata Willd.; Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers.; Blastania fimbristipula (Fensl.) Kotschy et Peyr.; Citrullus colocynthis (Linn.) Schrad.(Figure 8); Cucumis callosus (Rottl.) Cogn.; Mukia maderaspatana (Linn.) M. Roem.; Pergularia daemia (Forsk.) Chiov.; Ipomoea eriocarpa R.Br.; Ipomoea pes-tigridis Linn.
Figure 8: Citrullus colosynthis (Linn.) Schrad.
G. Grasses :
United Nations is playing key role in planning and development of bio-energy programmes at the global level.
FAO’s bioenergy programme bases its operations on the following concepts:
a) bioenergy can stimulate diversification of agricultural and forestry activities; for
example, through establishment of energy plantations with trees and crops;
b) biofuels can provide locally the necessary energy to improve agriculture and forestry
productivity; and
c) bioenergy can attract investments to rural areas where most of the biofuels are
produced.
• Biofuels offer clear advantages in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, but do they perform better when we look at all the environmental impacts from a life cycle perspective? To compare the environmental impacts and externalities of biodiesel and fossil diesel, these fuels and their impacts are assessed in a detailed way, combining Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools and externality assessment tools.
Feeling no pain: plants were first to let it happen
Gene, gene expression, gene silencing and RNAi 
