Ethnocultural Plant of Odisha

Plants used in festival and other cultural activities among urban locality of Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Sanjeet Kumar

Indigenous knowledge is important, extremely important to humanity. It' s a new way of thinking, a new model. It's an alternative model, which we can in fact learn from if we're going to stop this senseless destruction .

Common name (Oriya / Hindi)	Botanical name
Ganga Tulsi	Ocimum canum
Arakh	Calotropis gigantea
Aamo	Mangifera indica (Fruit, Leaf and Twig)
Asoca	Saraca asoca
Nimba	Adzatrichta indica
Dubo	Cynodon dactylon
Bara	Ficus bengalensis
Lotus (Leaf and flower)	Nelumbo nucifera
Gendu	Tagetes patula
Pipal	Ficus religiosa
Panairi	Aristolochia indica
Indrajaal	Lygodium flexuosum
Belo	Aegle marmelos
Nimbu	Citrus aurantifolia
Sonari	Cassia fistula
Bhalia	Semecarpus occidentalis
Lonka	Capsicum frutescens
Tentuli	Tamarindus indica
Bhrusanga Patro	Murraya keonghii
Aprajita	Clitoria ternatea
Barkoli	Ziziphus mauritiana
Chandan Katho( Sandal Wood)	Santalum album
Nodia	Cocos nucifera
Hilda	Curcuma longa
Sugar cane	Saccharum officinarum
Naga Champa,	Couroupita guianensis
Til oil	Sesamum indicum
Rice (Dhaan)	Oryza sativa
Karanja oil, Used in Dipawali	Pongamia pinnata
Ambla	Phyllanthus emblica
Kadli	Musa acuminata
Beto kodi (Kali Puja)	Calamus latifolius
Sahada	Streblus asper
Kantei koli ,	Ziziphus oenoplia
Oau	Dillenia indica
Saal (Jhuna)	Shorea robusta
Palasa (Jagya)	Butea monosperma
Jagannath Chariot,	Bridelia retusa
Kusa	Oryza rufipogon
Panso (Jackfruit)	Artocarpus heterophyllus
During Durga Puja	Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Pan patro	Piper betle
Rudraksh	Elaeocarpus ganitrus
Durlava	Ocimum basilicum
Pomegranate… (Ghar ke aangan me )	Punica granatum

In a conservation context, we stand on the edge of a precipice. We are scrambling to find ways to save the forest, yet thousands of years of accumulated human wisdom –– the knowledge of how to use the forest without destroying it, to the benefit of humankind – is going to vanish over that precipice within the next generation. Throughout the tropics species are disappearing, but the knowledge of how to use those species is disappearing at an even faster rate.

Sanjeet Kumar
Ravenshaw University, Cuttack