DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2018.v06i02.005

Pages: 163-166

While exhuming origin of exotic plants of a nation, one can find the socio-economic and sociocultural roots of the human society of the respective nation. This is particularly so in a country like India. India is highly known for cultural diversity, culinary diversity, curative diversity and ecosystem diversity. Indian epics and ancient scriptures like Puranas contain fascinating accounts of flora. The Garuda Purana, one of the 18 Puranas in India, is presently studied for its alien floral elements. As many as 24 exotic species are revealed belonging 24 genera and 17 families of angiosperms embedded in its Sanskrit verses. These are native to various parts of the Old and New Worlds. They appear introduced intentionally for various purposes or unintentionally during human trade even during pre-Columbian period. Some of these are venerated by the Indians and appropriated for socio-religious purposes. The Garuda Purana is thus a fairly rich source of socio-cultural vis-à-vis botanical information.