SLT launches calendar on medicinal plants

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), launched the calendar for 2014 on 'Medicinal Plants of Sri Lanka'. The 2014 calendar depicts drawings of 12 varieties of medicinal plants that have been widely used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years.

SLT has been continuously promoting and advocating the preservation of the rich heritage of our country for the benefit of future generations. One of the ways in which this is being done is through the CSR theme of 'Preserving heritage for tomorrow'.

The company produces calendars and complementary items, and has been carrying out a wide range of initiatives to educate the public, especially the younger generation on the importance of conserving our heritage for tomorrow, since 2003.

With the main theme 'preserving heritage for tomorrow', the company produces calendars and complementary items to encompass diverse fields such as nature, arts and culture each year.

Some popular past themes include Endemic birds of Sri Lanka (2003), Endemic orchids of Sri Lanka (2005), Kolam masks of Sri Lanka (2006), Endemic fresh water fish of Sri Lanka (2007), Gok Art (2008), Endemic Butterflies of Sri Lanka (2009), Heritage of Sinharaja (bio-diversity) (2010), Re-discovering hidden heritage (2011), Drums of Sri Lanka (2012) and Rush and Reed Craft of Sri Lanka (2013).

The 2014 calendar focuses on medicinal plants of Sri Lanka. Through art work this calendar depicts 12 selected medicinal plants found in Sri Lanka and information on their habitat, general features, characteristics and therapeutic uses.

Some of these plants are endemic to Sri Lanka while others have been brought into the country and cultivated.

The calendar contains a wealth of information of great educational value and interest for a wide audience that includes the public, collectors and students.

The calendar was produced after much research and hard work by SLT with advice from a reputed resource person.

The resource person for the 2014 calendar was Dr. Pathirage Kamal Perera who has specialised in Pharmacology, Immune Medicine and Clinical products Development and is also a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Institute of Indigenous Medicine, University of Colombo, and the Head of Department of Allied Sciences.

The drawings for the calendar were done by Parami Vidayarathne, while design and production was undertaken by an in-house team at SLT.

The majority of the medicinal plants featured in the calendar is used for the preparation of Ayurvedic medicines.

Although these plants have been used for medicinal purposes for over a thousand years, with the spread of western medicine, knowledge on these plants and their use have not reached out to the younger generation of today.

However, Ayurveda, as a form of medicine, has steadily grown in popularity over the years, in Sri Lanka and across the globe due to people becoming increasingly health conscious and switching back to traditional forms of medicine.