Hindu Botany

Charak’s classification—In Charak Samhita, by Charak, vegetation has been classified in four different ways:
1. Trees—Which bear fruit without bearing flowers e.g. goolar, jackfruit, etc.
2. Vegetal—Those that bear fruit after the flower e.g. mango, guava, etc.
3. Medicinal—Those fruits which fall off after ripening and becoming dry, e.g. wheat, barley, gram, etc.
4. Veerudh—which have tendrils or fibres, e.g. creepers, climbers, shrubs, etc.

Similarly, trees have also been classified according to their uses:
1. Roots—Whose roots, in comparison to other parts of the plant, are more important. They are 16 in number.
2. Fruits—Whose fruits are more useful.

There are 19 varieties of plants that come under this category. Sage Charka has divided edible plants into seven categories:
1. Bristle crop—Those that have bristles or hair on them like wheat, barley, etc.
2. Pod crop—Which belong to the legume family and which have pods like beans, peas, green lentil, black gram, arhar, etc.
3. Leafy vegetables—Spinach, fenugreek, bathua etc.
4. Fruit—Different fruits.
5. Green vegetables—Various vegetables like bottle gourd, torai (cridged gourd), etc.
6. Food and diet—Sesame, spices, etc. which are used in food.
7. Ikshu (sweet juice) category—Sugar cane and its familes.

Sushruta’s classification- Sushruta classified vegetables into ten categories:
1. Root- radish, etc.
2. Leaf-Whose leaves are used.
3. Thorny leafless shrubs-whose sprouts are used, like bamboo shoots.
4. Front part-Cane, etc.
5. Fruit-All fruit bearing plants.
6. Kaand-kooshmaand (pumpkins), etc.
7. Adhiroodh (flexible)-creepers, vines, etc.
8. Skin or bark-matulung cinnamon, etc.
9. Flowers-Kachnaar, etc.
10. Fungi-Mushrooms.

Sage Parashar’s classification-Maharshi Parashar classified flower bearing plants into families like pod plants, pipeelika catkins ganeeya, swastika ganeeya, tripundak ganeeya, mallika ganeeya and koorch ganeeya. What is amazing is that the modern botanical classification matches Sage Parashar’s classification. For example, let us see the shamiganeeya (leguminous) classification:

Sami tu tundamandala Vishamvidalasmrita Panchamuktadalaishchaiva yuktajaalakarurnitaih Dashabhih keshrairvidyat sami pushpasya lakshanam Samee simbiphala gyeya parshva beeja bhavet sa Vakram vikarnikam pushpam shukaakhya pushpameva cha Etaishcha pushpabhedaistu bhidyante samijatayah.

—(Vriksh Ayurveda-pushpaangsootradhyaya) (This book is available with Ocean Books (P) Ltd. 4/19 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110 002.)

Shameeganeeya - Leguminous
According to Parashar - Modern recognition
Tundamandal - Flowers hypogamus
Visham vidal - Unequal corolla lobes
Pancha muktadal - Five true petals
Yukta jaalika - Synsephalous corolla
Dasha prikesar - Ten stamens