**2. Taxonomic classification**

**Common Name—PARIS Botanical Name**—*Paris polyphylla* Sm*.* **Family**—Melanthiaceae **Part Used**—Rhizome

*P. polyphylla* is a shade loving herbaceous, perennial plant usually found in temperate and subtropical regions. It grows well in shady moist forest thickets and bamboo forests with moist soil. It bears rhizomes which is the economical part and has medicinal properties. It has a single unbranched stem and 2–3 whorls of leaves are present on the nodes. It flowers during the month of April. It has odd flowers with long yellow radiating anthers [10]. The morphological characteristics of the herb are given below (**Figure 1**):

**Habit**: Aerial, erect plant, herb, rhizomatous,.

**Stem**: Unbranched, non woody, smooth, 50–100 cm tall, 1–2.5 cm thick.

**Leaf**: Simple type, arranged in whorls and petiolate; lanceolate, reticulate with three primary veins, smooth margin, spider-like flowers.

**Inflorescence**: At the initial growth stage It forms a closed whorl

**Flower**: blooms at terminal. Flowers are solitary, yellowish green; monoecious; sepaloid outer is larger and inner is smaller, tepal 3–5.

**Figure 1.** *Arunkumar Phurailatpam, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, India.*

Paris polyphylla*: An Important Endangered Medicinal Plants of Himalayan Foothills DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102920*

**Androecium**: Stamens-free and 6–11 in numbers.

**Gynoecium**: 1 pistil, 3–5 carpels, syncarpous (carpels fused), ovary superior. **Seed**: Reddish orange in colour; a mature fruit contains about 50–60 seeds.
