Ayurveda
आयुर्वेदSanskrit sources, practised across India
A classical system with a large written corpus and an equally long household practice of growing and preparing plants at home.
Plants named in it Tulsi, amla, ashwagandha, giloy, haldi
Knowledge held in practice
Traditional Knowledge
Knowledge, practices and observations developed within communities over generations — about plants, soil, water, seasons and the households they feed.
Traditional knowledge is not folklore and it is not a single inherited manual. It is what communities have worked out by growing things in one place over a long time, tested season after season, and passed on in practice rather than in print.
It is diverse and region-specific. There is no single Indian gardening tradition. What is true of a Konkan backyard is not true of a Bundelkhand field or a Khasi grove — different rain, different soil, different plants, different households. We record knowledge as belonging to a place and a community, name that place wherever we can, and cite where the record came from.
We keep three things apart. Traditional knowledge — what has traditionally been used, and in what context. Scientific evidence — what research does and does not show, stated plainly as limited, emerging or supported by specific studies, with those studies cited. And the important point that follows from both: traditional plant use does not replace professional medical advice. A plant record never merges the first two into a single claim.
It belongs to someone. Traditional knowledge is held by communities, not by us and not by whoever writes it down first. We record who it came from and where, we publish it free for anyone to read and use non-commercially, we claim no ownership over it, and we take down anything a community asks us to take down.
What it covers
Identifying and cultivating local plantsWhich plant grows where, what it is called in that place, and how it has been raised there — knowledge held by the people who grow it, not by a catalogue.
Selecting and saving seedsChoosing which plant to save from, how to dry and store the seed, and why a variety kept for generations in one district behaves differently in another.
Understanding seasonal cyclesReading the year by rain, wind, flowering and bird arrival rather than only by calendar month — and sowing to that reading.
Traditional soil and water practicesComposting, mulching, bunding, tank and well irrigation, and the ways households have kept soil alive and water where it falls.
Food and household uses of plantsWhat is eaten, when, prepared how, and which plants serve the house in other ways — cleaning, dyeing, fibre, fodder, shade.
Home and community gardensThe courtyard, backyard and shared plot as a working system: many species, several storeys, food and medicine and beauty in one space.
Knowledge of local trees and biodiversityWhich trees are protected, which are planted at a boundary, what nests in them, and what a grove has meant to a settlement.
Cultural associations with plantsRitual, festival, story and household custom — the reasons a plant is kept even when it feeds nobody.
Traditional ways of observing natureWatching, recording and passing on: the habits of attention that produced all of the above.
Not one tradition but several, some written for centuries and some never written down at all. Each names its own plants, and each belongs to particular places and languages. Tamil Nadu and Tamil-speaking regions Documented in Tamil with its own materia medica, weighted towards plants that grow within walking distance. Plants named in it Nilavembu, keezhanelli, vallarai, thoothuvalai Urdu and Persian sources; the Deccan and north India Arrived through Persian and Arabic scholarship and took Indian root, with a large written pharmacopoeia of its own. Plants named in it Isabgol, sanay, gulab, badam Ladakh, Himachal, Sikkim, Arunachal The Himalayan system, practised at altitudes where almost nothing from the plains pharmacopoeia will grow. Plants named in it Kutki, jatamansi, chirata, seabuckthorn Every district, mostly unwritten The kitchen and the field edge: what to pick, when, and what to do with it. Overwhelmingly oral, and the least recorded of all. Plants named in it Bhringraj, punarnava, makoy, ajwain leaf Forest and hill communities Knowledge of plants as they grow wild rather than cultivated, including foods and famine foods that no market sells. Plants named in it Mahua, kokum, bamboo shoot, wild yam A household that sows to rain, flowering and bird arrival is reading a six-part year. The calendar month is only a rough translation of it — these are the plains; the coast and the hills run their own version. Signs Neem in flower, mango panicles, the koel calling, the last cool nights. In the garden Last sowing of the cool-season greens. Prune, repot and top up compost before the heat arrives. Signs Hot dry wind, gulmohar and amaltas in flower, ground cracking open. In the garden Shade, mulch and water at dusk. Sow almost nothing; keep alive what you already have. Signs First rain, termite flights, frogs at night, punarnava appearing in every pot unasked. In the garden The main sowing season. Everything germinates, and drainage matters more than watering. Signs Rain thinning, clear mornings, marigold in bud, dragonflies over the pots. In the garden Sow the winter crop — palak, methi, dhania, mustard. Take cuttings while the air is still humid. Signs Dew on the leaves, short days, the first real cold at dawn. In the garden The best growing weather of the plains year. Feed, harvest outer leaves, and sow again every fortnight. Signs Fog, frost in the north, bare branches, roses and sweet peas at their best. In the garden Cover tender pots at night. Towards the end, start summer vegetables in trays under shelter. Water harvesting in India is not a modern idea with a traditional past — it is an inherited engineering vocabulary, and every term in it is named to the place that worked it out. An earthen bund across the foot of a rocky catchment holds runoff until it has soaked in. The field is then sown into stored moisture rather than into rain. Catch water where it falls and let it sink instead of run. Channels called pyne divert stream water into three-sided reservoirs called ahar, irrigating rice on a plain with no natural storage. Storing water is cheaper than lifting it. Runoff from a protected forest at the hilltop passes through silt-catching ponds and cattle yards into terraced paddy below — water, silt and manure in one line. Nothing leaving the slope should leave unused. Gravity channels tap a glacier-fed or spring-fed stream, maintained by the villages that share them under rules agreed between users. Shared infrastructure needs agreed rules more than it needs concrete. Chains of tanks, each spilling into the next, hold the north-east monsoon across a landscape with little groundwater to fall back on. Many small stores are steadier than one large one. Crescent earthen check dams pond monsoon runoff so that it recharges the wells downstream rather than leaving the watershed. Groundwater is refilled at the surface, not underground. Terraces grow rice and fish in the same water, fed by channels off hill streams, with bunds that double as millet beds. Two crops and a fish from one patch of water. Split bamboo pipes carry spring water across steep slopes to betel and pepper, the flow narrowed stage by stage until it arrives as a drip. Precision watering, with no pump and no plastic. Patches of forest left uncut by custom, protected by community sanction rather than law. They are often the last old trees and the local water source both. Protection can be a social arrangement, and it holds. A record that carries only the English and botanical name is unusable by the household that actually grows the plant. Local names are part of the record, not decoration on it. Names are recorded as people use them, with the language noted. Where two plants share one local name — and they often do — the botanical name settles which plant a record is about. Important: These records document what has traditionally been used and in what context. They are not statements of medical effect, and traditional plant use does not replace professional medical advice. A regional name, a household use, a sowing habit particular to your district, a practice your grandmother kept. The record gets better when the people who hold the knowledge add to it — and you will be credited.Where this knowledge is held
Siddha
சித்த மருத்துவம்Unani
یونانیSowa-Rigpa
བོད་སྨནFolk and household knowledge
लोक ज्ञानAdivasi and community traditions
The year read in six seasons
Vasanta वसंत
Mid-Feb to mid-AprGrishma ग्रीष्म
Mid-Apr to mid-JunVarsha वर्षा
Mid-Jun to mid-AugSharad शरद
Mid-Aug to mid-OctHemanta हेमंत
Mid-Oct to mid-DecShishira शिशिर
Mid-Dec to mid-Feb
Built to hold soil and water
Khadin
Jaisalmer, RajasthanAhar-pyne
South BiharZabo
NagalandKuhl
Himachal Pradesh and JammuEri tanks
Tamil NaduJohad
Alwar and eastern RajasthanApatani wet rice
Ziro valley, Arunachal PradeshBamboo drip irrigation
MeghalayaSacred groves
Devrai, kavu, orans, law kyntang
One plant, many names
How a record is built
Plants with a written record
Aak Bush आँकड़ाDune stabilisation, fibre and camel browse in the Thar.→Ajwain अजवाइनTempering and traditional digestives; umbels feed hoverflies.→Ajwain Leaf अजवाइन पत्ताTraditional cough remedies; a strong-flavoured pakora leaf.→Alder उतीसSoil building and slope repair; firewood; shade for cardamom.→Amaltas अमलतासStreet and park shade; carpenter-bee flowers.→Amaranth चौलाईChaulai saag; the red kinds double as ornamentals.→Amaranth Grain रामदानाRajgira flour and laddu; a striking ornamental too.→Amla आमलाAmla murabba, juice, hair oil; leaf litter feeds the soil.→Apricot खुबानीKhubani fresh, dried and pressed for oil.→Arabian Jasmine मोगराGajra and offerings; cuttings root in the monsoon.→Areca Nut सुपारीSupari; shade for pepper and cardamom below.→Areca Palm सुपारीSupari; the frame crop of a Karnataka or Assam garden.→
Contribute a recordKnow something we have not written down?
Go deeper
Nakshatra VatikaThe twenty-seven star trees, and how to plant them→Explore PlantsThe full library, filtered by purpose, space, season and region→Gardening GuidesPractical steps for Indian homes, soil and seasons→Seasonal CalendarWhat to sow this month where you live→BiodiversityWhy native planting matters, and what it brings back→