Venkatadri has no parallel. either in the past, future or the present.So, goes the saying. The same can be said of the forest cover spread across the Tirumala Hills since it is home to as many as 542 plants of medicinal value.
“Though, there are medicinal plants in many forests, every forest has its own identity and category of medicinal plants
However, the Tirumala Hills have a variety of flora, particularly, the medicinal plants,” explained SV Ayurvedic College professor (department of medicinal plants wing) Dr M Paramkusha Rao.
Some of the medicinal plants available are Pinus longifolia (Sarala Dhoopam), Cycas beddomi (Baniyan family tree), Eugenia alternatifolia, Ficus Krishna (Krishna Marri), Terminalia pelida (Jeevanthi Karakkayi, also abundant in this forest) and Terminalia belarica (Tanikayi).
All these kinds of plants are available in Dharmagiri area of Tirumala forest.
Similarly in Japala Teertham area, medicinal plants including Smilax geylalicum (Phirangi Chekka), Rubia cardifolia (Manjishta) Tinospora cardifolia (Tippateega, which have anti-ageing medicinal values) and Shorea thallura (Shola tree) are available.
In Avvachari Kona area, we can find Randia ulgenosa (Konda Mang a k a y i ) , Mangifera indica (wild) (Adavi Mamidi) Gmenila asciatica (Chittu Gummadi), etc.
In Kapila Teertham area of the Tirumala forest, we can find Gmenila arboria (Gummadi Teku), Plumbago geylanicum (Chitramulamu), Oraxylum indicum (Kathichettu) etc.
SV Ayurvedic College principal Dr Rajaiah said that they are also concentrating on developing medicinal plant nurseries in some parts of the forest with the cooperation of the forest department.
It may mentioned that the TTD using the medicinal plants available in the forest as well as some medicinal plants purchased in the herbal markets, prepares Ayurvedic medicines in its pharmacy near Srinivasa Mangapuram and supplies the medicines to the SV Ayurvedic Hospital and an ayurvedic dispensary in Tirumala.