India has been using a variety of herbs and plants to treat diseases since ancient time. The reference could be marked as late as the century of Lord Rama, when a distinct Sanjeevi Booti was used to treat Laxman. Recently, a medicinal plant which was documented first more than a century ago and was believed to be extinct long back has been rediscovered. This medicinal marvel was re-found in the North-East Indian state of Assam.   

The rare species of plant was rediscovered by Jatindra Sarma, a forest officer in Assam, in the Borjan area of the Tinsukia district. It is known as "Gandheli" (Nothapodytes nimmoniana) in the Assamese language.

Gandheli was first documented in 1914, by a UN botanist Kanjilal. The plant is said to have anti-carcinogenic properties which can neutralize the effects of cancer-causing substances.

Sarma and his team embarked on quite a lot of botanical explorations before authenticating that the plant was indeed Nothapodytes nimmoniana, whose occurrence was last mentioned by 1934 published Kanjilal’s book "Flora of Assam".

Reportedly Sarma said "The plant is the richest source of Camptothecin and it is the world`s third-most important plant-based bio-molecule for treating ovarian and colon cancers, besides its use against HIV virus. The plant species possess various bio-active substances like Camptothecin, an anti-cancer alkaloid."

Though, the species was announced endangered due to "over-collection and massive destruction of habitat," said Sarma, adding that the Camptothecin found in Gandheli is a new class of chemotherapeutic agent with special cytotoxic properties that can damage cancer cells.

Gandheli, belonging to the Icacinaceae family, is a small tree chiefly found in the tropical regions of America and in some parts of China and Sri Lanka. In India, the plant is found in the Nilgiri Mountains and in Mysore.

"Garcinia cowa Roxb, known as Kau thekera in Assamese, is another such plant which is included in the book. Both the fruit and the leaves of this plant have medicinal properties. While the fruit has anti-dysenteric properties, the leaves have anti-malarial properties," Sarma said.

Gandheli has been recorded in Sarma`s book "Medicinal Plants and Mushrooms of India with Special Reference to Assam," published recently in which he elaborated nearly 1,400 medicinal and aromatic plant species.