Lashita – pretty ornamental plants for rockery and shrubbery

Abstract

WILD plants are nature’s endowments which have been successfully exploited as food, fodder, flowers and medicine by man since pre-historic times. The primitive man assessed the usefulness of wild germplasm through the process of trial and error after rigorous screening and few of them have been domesticated. It took a fairly long time for selection and their domestication. Ironically, less attention has been paid towards the domestication and improvement of wild ornamental plants. Only a few research institutes worked on this line such as National Botanical Research Institute; ICAR Institutes, Tropical Botanical Garden; Botanical survey of India, etc. The plant Tephrosia candida DC. (Family– Fabaceae) locally known as Lashita is an interesting ornamental plant growing wild in the Sarada forest, West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand state. It is also found in other states of India like Assam, and Tamil Nadu. The plant was introduced in the Bhagalpur University botanical garden for study and research purposes. It has tremendous potentiality as ornamental plant for rock garden and shrubbery. Its leaves contain high protein and are used as a fodder for livestock. Its leaves are also used as green manure in Assam.