558 International Seminar on "Multidisciplinary Approaches in Angiospenn Systematics"

MEDICINAL PLANTS DESCRIBED IN HORTUS MALABARICUS,

THE FIRST INDIAN REGIONAL FLORA PUBLISHED IN 1678

AND ITS RELEVANCE TO THE PEOPLE OF INDIA TODAY

K. S. Manilal

Abstract
Hortus Malabaricus, is the first printed book on the plants of Malabar (Kerala). It is a 12-volume
treatise written in Latin, the 1st volume of which was published in 1678 and the 12 th in 1693. About
742 important plants naturally occurring in Malabar, of which over 650 are of medicinal value, are
described in it, along with details of the diseases to treat which they are used and the methods of
preparation and application ofthe medicines. The current relevance ofthe book is also explained.
Key words: Hortus Malabaricus, Medicinal plants, Biological Patent Laws, IPR.

Introduction
Malabar (Kerala) was well known all over the world from time immemorial for its spices,
aromatic and medicinal plants. It was Arabs who have been collecting the plants from Malabar,
keeping their source as a secret, and taking them to the Mediterranean ports, from where they
reached all over Europe. The discovery of a sea route from Europe to Malabar by the Portuguese
adventurer Vasco da Gama who landed in Calicut on 17 th May 1498, opened the flood gate of
arrival of the European maritime powers in Malabar and India. Following the Portuguese, the
Dutch, French, Danes, Germans and English came to India, in their quest for the legendary plants
of Malabar.
The Book and its origin
It was the Dutch in the 17 th century, under the leadership of the far sighted Hendrik
Adriaan Van Rheede, the then Dutch Governor of Cochin, who first thought of scientifically
documenting the valuable plants ofthis region as well as the indigenous medical knowledge ofthe
native Malabaris. With the help of the most famous Malabari physician of those days, Collatt
Vaidyan Itty Achuden ofCarrappuram, Cherthala, near Cochin, and three Konkani Brahmin priests
who were residing in Cochin namely Ranga Bhat, Vinayaka Pandit and Appu Bhat, Van Rheede
(Fig. 1) prepared a 12-volume treatise Hortus Malabaricus. It contained detailed scientific
descriptions and life size illustrations ofabout 742 useful plants ofMalabar, ofwhich over 650 are
ofmedicinal value. It was the result of about thirty years ofcompiling and editing work by a large
team of famous European physicians, scientists, technicians, illustrators and engravers, with the
active collaboration of native scholars from Malabar. For his work, Van Rheede, the Governor of
Cochin obtainedall materials and logistic support from the King ofCochin and the ruling Zamorin
ofCalicut. Rheede has recorded that over 200 people were working with him at any given time for
this venture (Fig. 2). The descriptions ofplants given in the book were edited by the most famous
Professors of Medicine and Botany of some of the best and oldest universities in Europe and
conformed to the highest scientific standards ofthat time. The medicinal properties ofthe plants,
the diseases for the treatment ofwhich they are used, the preparation ofthe drugs and the method
ofapplication ofthe medicines as known to the renowned traditional native physicians ofMalabar
were mentioned. The 1st volume of the book in double folio size, the entire text of which was
written in Latin, was published from Amsterdam in 1678 and the 12th in 1693. When it was published,
Bortus Malabaricus was lauded as a classic. Even today, 325 years after its first publication,
there is no other published book on the medicinal plants ofMalabar, which can surpass it in importance
and magnitude.
The plants were described under their dialectical Malayalam names that were used by
the natives ofCochin, where Rheede was stationed at that point oftime in 17 th century. Many of
those names are not in use now, or have undergone modifications that make them unrecognizable
ISBN: 978-93-5067-867-1 Ethnobotany and Medicinal Plants 559
by the natives. At the same time, several of the old, unchanged names are now used to denote
plants that are entirely different from those meant by van Rheede and the physicians who helped
him in selecting and describing them over three and a quarter centuries back.
The vast majority of Malayalam words and expressions had (and still have) two forms,
more or less different from each other, namely the spoken form (vaamozhi) and the written form
(varamozhi). The local names of plants were dictated to Rheede in the spoken (vaamozhi) form
of the local language Malayalam. That was then translated to Portuguese language, writing the
names in the spoken form ofthe names themselves, from which it was translated to Dutch language
and then from Dutch to the Latin language used in the printed text ofthe book. During this tortuous,
multi-stage transformations, the Malayalam names which even otherwise do not easily yield to
European tongue or ears, had undergone severe distortions, that are reflected in their depiction in
Roman script in the book. Alongside the illustrations, Malayalam names are written in Malayalam
script also, which is a great help in understanding them better. However, they are the exact
transliteration ofthe spoken form (vaamozhi) that was in use in the 17 th century, written in an old
script. Since then, Malayalam script itself as well as the language have changed. To compound the
confusion, it also appears that many ofthe names in Malayalam script are written, perhaps later in
Amsterdam and Leiden, by persons who had no knowledge of the language or its script.
Almost all the plants described in Hortus Malabaricus were illustrated. The illustrations
are beautiful and are ofa very high technical excellence for their times, and would help in identifying
some of the plants up to the generic level. However, in most of them sufficient technical details
required by modern standards are not available to determine their correct, scientific identification
acceptable according to the current "International Code ofBotanical Nomenclature" (ICBN).
In the volumes from 3 to 8, Rheede has mentioned the names ofthe localities, where the
concerned plants were commonly growing. Since his times, several of the place names too have
undergone changes or modifications, some of them beyond recognition. An intensive attempt was
made by the author during the 20 years from 1969 to 1988, to re-collect all the plants described in
Hortus Malabaricus, from the localities from where Rheede originally reported them over three
centuries ago. It was found that several of his plants no longer occur in their original localities but
have migrated to places far away. Such plants were collected from places nearest to Cochin or to
their original localities, resulting in a re-collection of most of Rheede's plants. The scientific
identification of Rheede's plants were made to a considerable extent from this fresh collections.
However, it has been found that several plants described in Hortus Malabaricus have disappeared
altogether from the entire Malabar region, some having become extinct.
Earlier attempts for translation and interpretation
During the past 325 years many British, German, French, Dutch, Austrian and other
European and American botanists had tried to interpret Hortus Malabaricus in modern, post
Linnaean scientific terms, which is fundamental for the floristic investigations ofAsian plants and
their medicinal uses. To facilitate this, the Dutch botanists themselves attempted to bring out a
Dutch translation of Bortus Malabaricus but only the first two volumes could be translated,
which were together published in a single bound volume in 1720. The remaining 10 volumes have
not been translated even into Dutch till now. Many attempts were also made to translate the book
into English by eminent scientists but none could complete even the first volume. In 1774 John Hill
published a "London Edition" of Volume 1 of Bortus Malabaricus, which has been mistakenly
thought to be an English translation by those who have not seen the book. Hill's "London Edition"
is merely a reprint ofthe original Latin book published from London, in which the botanical names
of the plants as known in those days and as interpreted by Hill, are also added. Even in this case,
the other 11 volumes remained unattended until the present English Edition was published (2003).
560 International Seminar on "Multidisciplinary Approaches in Angiospenn Systematics"

Multidisciplinary importance of the Book

As the first printed book on the concerned subject, Hartus Malabaricus is uniquely
important because it provides precious information on:
(a) The valuable plant wealth of Malabar which is one of the richest zones of biodiversity in
India,
(b) The ancient indigenous ethnomedical knowledge ofMalabar physicians about the medicinal
properties of plants, with details regarding the diseases to treat which they were used,
(c) The methods of preparation ofthe drugs and how to apply the same,
(d) The history of botanical science in India, the indigenous scientific system ofclassification of
plants that was prevailing in Malabar, showing a high degree of understanding that the local
traditional physicians had about the inter-relationships ofdifferent species,
(e) The socio-cultural conditions in the 17th century Malabar and India,
(t) How a book on plants ofMalabar came to be instrumental in deciding the political history of
India and of Netherlands in the 17th century and perhaps those other European maritime
powers who followed the Dutch to India,
(g) The history ofevolution oflinguistics and scripts ofMalayalam language,
(h) Pf. forgotten milestone in the history ofKonkani language,
(i) Impact of a book on plants, on two major religions- Hinduism and Christianity in India,
G) Stages in the history ofevolution ofRoman and Malayalam numerals and numerical systems,
(k) The history ofArabic and Arabi-Malayalam script and their evolution,
(I) The history ofPrinting Technology, etc.
Thus, Bartus Malabaricus may be seen to contain information on diverse topics of
national and international importance. However, the greatest importance ofit today is with regard
to the plant wealth ofMalabar and their medicinal uses. The traditional indigenous ethno-medical
information contained in it was gathered from ancient palm leaf manuscripts belonging to hereditary
physicians' families ofMalabar ofthe 17th century. As none ofthose manuscripts existtodayand
as. there have been no practitioners oftraditional medicine in those families in recent generations,
Van Rheede's book is the only source of information about those ancient Indian medicinal plants
(about the correct identity of which there has been a lot of confusion and controversy), and the
details regarding their medicinal uses.
Bortus Malabaricus and World Botany
About a century after its publication, Carl Linnaeus, father ofmodem Botany, accepted
Bartus Malabaricus as an authoritative manual on the plants ofAsia and made extensive use of
it when establishing his new binomial system of nomenclature of plants. Since the dried specimens
of plants sent to Europe by Rheede could not be located, Linnaeus, due to his pronounced faith in
this book, used, instead, the descriptions and illustrations contained in it to erect types ofmany of
species and genera ofAsian and other tropical plants. In his Species Plantarum published in 1753
(and Genera Plantarum), Linnaeus used about 265 Indian plants for erecting new species and
genera, most of which from Bartus Malabaricus. Many other eminent botanists like Adanson,
Amon, Blume, DeCandolle, Dennstedt, Dillwyn, Hamilton, Jussieau, Rumphius, White, et al.,
followed Linnaeus and erected many taxa based solely on Bartus Malabaricus, immortalising
local IyIalayalam and Konkani plant names by adopting them as specific or generic epithets in the
new binomial nomenclatural system. Bartus Malabaricus is, therefore, fundamental in the floristic
and taxonomic investigations ofAsian and tropical plants. Establishment ofthe correct identity and
nomenclature of the plants described in this book is, hence, of paramount importance to plant
taxonomists the world over.
 ISBN: 978-93-5067-867-1 Ethnobotanyand Medicinal Plants 561
Hortus Malabaricus is the basis of every botanical study on the plant wealth of Asia.
As this is a pre-Linnaean work, with no known type specimens, the exact scientific identity of most
ofthe medicinal plants described in it, were not correctly known and has been a subject of debate.
Linnaeus and many others after him used the illustrations and descriptions in it as the types of
many botanical taxa erected by them, in accordance to the system of binomial nomenclature of
plants. However, a lot of confusion existed in this matter, as the descriptions in the book and
illustrations (though very beautiful) are not ofmodern scientific nonns. The techniques of botanical
description were only beginning to develop in 17 th century. Botany itself was not an independent
branch of science then in Europe but was only a part of Medical education. Morphology of
various parts of the flowers was not properly understood and their functions mostly unknown.
Therefore, the tenns and expressions used by Rheede and his collaborators to write the Latin
descriptions of the plants in general and the flowers in particular in Hortus Malabaricus, do not
always carry the technical meanings attributed to those very same tenns and expressions by
botanists today.
The 17th century dialectical Malayalam names of the taxa (which alone are given in this
pre-Linnaean book), which could have given clues in some cases, have not been able to be interpreted
correctly by others, mostly scientists not familiar with the intricacies of the language, who were
looking for solutions oftaxonomic and nomenclatural problems. The entire text being in antiquated
Latin, the valuable infonnation contained in it is not readily available to many modern investigators
and users either.
Present relevance of the 17 1JJ century Botany book
The present relevance of the book today for us, however, is mainly two-fold. First: the
spiralling cost ofthe modern allopathic medicines are taking them beyond the reach ofour common
and middle-class people. It is estimated that in the next five years the cost ofallopathic medicines
will be 10 times more than what it is today, compelling the common people to fall back to their
ancient traditional medical systems. Hortus Malabaricus provides the most authentic document
ofour ancient, indigenous knowledge ofmedicinal plants and their uses, by helping to distinguish
proven, locally available medicinal plants, to help our native people, giving the much needed solace
to them. Secondly: the data presented in the book can be effectively used to prevent patenting of
about 650 valuable Indian medicinal plants, by any foreign (or Indian) company, thus saving
billions of Rupees for the country and providing an example of how the Intellectual Property
Rights of the ethnic people in the third world countries can be protected and harnessed for their
own benefit.
Indigenous medical knowledge for self reliance in health care
For the drug to be really effective, indeed the correct medicinal plant should be selected..
Apart from recognizing the correct medicinal plants recommended in Hortus Malabaricus by the
traditional physicians, to effectively treat the concerned illnesses, establishing the correct botanical
identity ofthem acceptable under the rules ofthe International Code ofBotanical Nomenclature,
is also absolutely essential for all matters concerning the Biological Patent Laws and Intellectual
Property Rights.
Despite the unique importance ofthe book, the correct scientific taxonomic identity of
many of the plants of Malabar, as well as the medicinal properties of them, their methods of use,
etc. as described and certified in it by renowned authorities ofthe 17th century, were remaining, in
general, locked up in the pages of Hortus Malabaricus itself and practically inaccessible to the
vast majority, because the entire text ofthe book is in old Latin.
An English Edition, recently published (2003), contains a true, word by word translation
ofall the 12 volumes of Hortus Malabaricus from the original old Latin into English. The original
style ofthe language is followed and no attempt is made to modify or modernize the language, to
562 International Seminar on "Multidisciplinary Approaches in Angiosperm Systematics"

facilitate other researchers to take up their own studies. In addition to the English translation, the
correct scientific botanical nomenclature and identity ofall plants, acceptable under the International
Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN), are given, along with their important synonyms and
basionyms with author citations. The process ofidentification was based not only on the descriptions
and illustrations given in the original book, but also studying fresh collections ofthe plants made
personally by the present author during the past few decades, from the localities in Malabar from
where Rheede originally collected them 325 years ago. Correct interpretation ofthe old dialectical
Malayalam plant names also proved to be ofconsiderable help to arrive at conclusions about their
identity in several instances.
Medicinal properties ofthe concerned plants, as originally certified by the ancient local
traditional Malabar physicians, who supplied all such information contained in it are translated and
interpreted in this English Edition. Commentaries on the Malayalam nomenclature, that in many
cases are found to allude to the medicinal uses ofthe concerned plants, are given. This annotated
translation of Hortus Malabaricus, published for the first time, 325 years after the publication of
the original book is, therefore, of current relevance.
Biological Patent Laws and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous People
In the context ofthe global acceptance today ofthe Biological Patent Laws and Intellectual
Property Rights also, this book is ofconsiderable importance.
The case ofpatenting ofturmeric, a plant that has been in use as a medicine in India for
centuries, is well known. When a US patent was awarded in 1995 to the University ofMississippi
for the use of turmeric powder in wound healing, the matter created an uproar in India. Local
people were taken aback when it was reported in the news papers that the use ofturmeric powder
in wound healing, a property well known in India for many centuries, is patented by a US organization
as their own invention. Under people's pressure, Indian Government had to legally challenge this at
the US courts.
The US Patent Rules do not recognize foreign "undocumented" knowledge as 'prior
art', if it is not known in the United States. Therefore, the argument that the 'invention' was
common knowledge in India would have no legal standing in the US. It was only when the Indian
Government produced sufficiently old, published documents (including an ancient Sanskrit text)
the patent was revoked due to 'lack of novelty'. When anything is printed and published
(anywh~re), it is expected to be known in the US also, due to the universal availability of such a
document. The world courts follow a similar pattern.
'-,;:...

After this case, many foreign companies have been successfully acquiring patents of
several Indian medicines ofplant origin. Patenting ofmany ofthem could not be prevented due to
lack of any sufficiently old printed documents or books, to convincingly prove this traditional
indigenous knowledge as 'prior art' .
In principle, application of.Intellectual Property Rights to biological resources should not
be exploitive, as anyone has the right to apply for, and enjoy the fruits of an invention based on a
biological discovery. However, in practice the patent rules tend to favour corporations rather than
indigenous communities. For example, it would be difficult for a native practitioner who may have
developed a therapeutic plant extract or herbal formulation, to acquire a patent for his invention,
first because applications require inventions to be described in precise technical languages, and
secondly because the cost ofapplying for a patent is likely to be prohibitive.
Traditional Knowledge can not be patented due to lack of' novelty'. However, those who
apply for patent argue that they have added an 'inventive step' that makes their version of the
product patentable. Such arguments are frequently accepted as legitimate by patent offices. For
example, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has obtained a licence to manufacture an anti-obesity
 ISBN: 978-93-5067-867-1 Ethnobotanyand Medicinal Plants 563
drug P57, the active ingredient of Hoodia gordonii, a succulent Asclepiad plant growing in South
Africa. The native South African bushmen of the Kalahari desert were known to have been using
this plant for centuries to stave off hunger and reduce the quantity of food they have to eat during
long journeys or times of food scarcity. The newly patented product is expected to revolutionize
the Rs.450 Billion market in slimming aids.
Rules on the eligibility of 'novel' biological material for patent protection are quite
demanding. Usually it is not sufficient simply to describe how a plant compound exerts a therapeutic
effect, or even whatthis compound is. Meeting requirements of 'novelty' and' inventive step', or
'non-obviousness' means that the applicant usually needs to produce at least a synthetic version
of the compound or a purified extract. On these grounds, many scientists deny allegations of
biopiracy, arguing that the patent is intended to reward the extra work that was needed to produce
a patentable invention from a biological resource, not the initial discovery ofthe source itself.
A US patent was granted in 1997 to RiceTec, Inc., for 'novel' Basmati rice lines and
associated grains and plants as well as a method for breeding the lines. These lines were obtained
by breeding crosses of 22 fanner-bred Basmati varieties from India and Pakistan. Many would
assume that the problem with this patent is 'novelty' which mayor may not be the case. This,
however, is an exampIe ofthe importance of' geographical indicators' as they relate to traditional
knowledge, based on which the case was challenged. After DNA analysis it was shown that the
RiceTec varieties resemble more the US long grain varieties as opposed to the Indian or Pakistani
Basmati varieties. As the name "American Basmati" is misleading by including the tenn Basmati
to describe a rice that is not even genetically similar to that of the original, most patent claims
were withdrawn. The commercial interest in patenting the name Basmati is evident from the fact
that the Indian Basmati rice export to US is for about Rs. 75 billon per year. This case serves as an
example ofwhy pre-emptive registration or public disclosure ofthe use ofgeographic indicators is
important to help prevent misappropriation.
In the context of the case on Basmati, etc., a public registry system was introduced in
India as the People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs). Recognized in the Indian Biological Diversity
Bill of 2000, these PBRs consist of documents of people's knowledge of biodiversity, its usage,
trade, and efforts for its conservation and sustainable utilization. The PBRs are developed on the
village level by the local NGOs and by villagers themselves. Biodiversity Registers are then
compiled in the fonn of computerized data bases on the level of talukas, districts, states and the
entire country, in order to provide infonnation to the public, government and industry. These PBRs
have also been recognized by the Indian Biological Diversity Bill as a fonn of 'prior art' in the
evaluation of Patent Applications, as well as serving to ensure equitable access and benefit sharing.
In principle, the Indian programme is ideal and would satisfy the Indian law. However,
since the Registry has been prepared by persons who are not technically competent to properly
and scientifically identify the concerned plants as per the acceptable Rules of the ICBN, the
technical accuracy ofthis Registry may not stand the test ofscrutiny and hence its acceptability in
international courts of law is open to question.
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is the infonnation that people in a given community, based
on experience and adaptation to a local culture and environment, have developed over times, and
continue to develop. This knowledge is used to sustain the community and its culture and to maintain
the genetic resources necessary for the continued survival of the community. The ownership of
medicinal plants, though extremely complex, is the most valuable asset of indigenous people and
their traditional knowledge. From time immemorial, Malabar (Kerahi) has been known for its
medicinal plants and its rich indigenous knowledge ofmedical science. This indigenous traditional
knowledge is now under the threat of getting patented by giant pharmaceutical corporations.
Unless this patenting is prevented, the native people would be legally bound to pay royalty to the
patent holding company, even when one plucks a plant growing in his own court yard and uses it as
564 International Seminar on "Multidisciplinary Approaches in Angiosperm Systematics"

a remedy for a common ailment, though that plant had been traditionally used for centuries by his
ancestors.
Hortus Malabaricus, a book on the plant wealth of Malabar, printed and published
during 1678-1693, is an authentic proof ofthe Indigenous Knowledge on the medicinal plants and
the ancient traditional medical sciences ofMalabar. The information contained in it was gathered
and compiled by the then Dutch Governor of Cochin. It was supplied to him by the most famous
traditional native physician ofMalabar ofthat time, Itty Achuden. Had the information contained
it the book was provided by a Catholic priest from Italy who came to Cochin recently for missionary
work, who helped Van Rheede in the initial stages of its compilation, or by three Konkani Brahmin
priests who had migrated to Cochin merely a couple of decades back from Goa due to religious
persecution there, how-so-ever knowledgeable and erudite they might have been, could perhaps
not have been considered as an valid record representing the true, authentic, traditional indigenous
knowledge of Malabar. It is in this context that Van Rheede's decision to discard the earlier
attempts by Fr. Mathew in compiling the book, acquires special contemporary value for us. The
priceless significance ofthe certificates provided by Itty Achudean in Malayalam Kolezuthu script
(Fig. 3), Emmanuel Carneiro in Malayalam Aryaezuthu script (Fig. 4) and Christian Herman de
Donep in Latin, reproduced in their own hand-writing and under their own signature in the book,
can now be explicitly understood, evaluated and appreciated.
The original Hortus Malabaricus by Van Rheede could not have been read and
understood by most people as it was written fully in Latin. Moreover, only local Malayalam names
of the concerned plants were mentioned in it, with the accompanying confusion on their exact
scientific identity. Local vernacular plant names are not recognized in international courts, where
scientific names acceptable under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN)
alone are accepted for all purposes, including matters concerning Biological Patent Laws. Detail~d
studies were conducted by the present author for a period of about 35 years to establish the
scientific identity ofthe concerned plants, acceptable by world courts, under the relevant rules of
the ICBN, which are given in the recently published book Van Rheede s Hortus Malabaricus:
English Edition With Annotations and Modern Botanical Nomenclature {l2 Volumes}. That
its originals were documented, printed and published from Amsterdam 325 years ago, makes it an
undisputable proof concerning the clauses on 'prior art' and' lack ofnovelty', as well as for the
matter to be considered as 'known' all over the world.
Conclusion
The Annotated English Edition (published in 2003) of the book makes the vast amount of
data that remained locked up for a period of three and a quarter centuries in the pages of the
original Latin Hortus Malabaricus, available not merely to the community ofacademic researchers
but to the people of Malabar in particular and India and other third world tropical countries in
general as well. With the help ofits English Edition, Hortus Malabaricus, the first printed book on
the plants of Malabar could now be used not only to accurately identify the correct medicinal
plants to be used as a source of more than 278Q prescriptions for more than 210 diseases which
were rampant in Malabar in the 15 th to 17th century that are common even today for self reliance
in health care of our villagers. The book can be used as an effective legal weapon in our efforts to
prevent patenting of the over 650 important medicinal plants of Malabar by anybody with vested
interest, and preserve and protect our own traditional Indigenous Knowledge on plants for the
benefit of our common people and for the economic advantage ofthe country.
This may be considered as an example ofwhat a significant practical role in the society
can be played by Taxonomy and Taxonomists, apart from their purely scientific and academic
contributions.
ISBN: 978-93-5067-867-1 Ethnobotany and Medicinal Plants 565
Illustrations

Fig. 1 Hendrik Adriaan Van Rheede.

Fig. 2

Engraving attributed to
Van Rheede collecting information about

Pieter Stevenz van Gunst.

the medicinal plants of Malabar from a

native Malabari informant.

(Hortus Malabaricus Vol. 3. 1684)

(Etching reproduced in Hortus Malabaricus.

Vol.3. 1684).

Fig. 3 Fig. 4
Certificate by Itty Achuden, in Malayalam extinct Certificate by Emmanuel Carniero in Malayalam
Kolezuthu script. . . Aryaezuthu script.
(Hortus Malabaricus Vol. I. 1678) (Hortus Malabaricus Vol. I. 1678)