Abstract:
Medicinal plants play a key role in the treatment of a number of
diseases and source of medicines for majority of people in the
developing world. The tropical regions of the world supply the bulk
of current global demand for “natural medicine,” albeit with
increasing threat to populations in the world and its genetic diversity. India is a major centre of origin and diversity of crop and medicinal
plants, and poses out 20,000 species of higher plants, one third of it
being endemic and 500 species are categorized to have medicinal
values. The Western Ghats is one of the major repositories of
medicinal plants that harbours around 4,000 species of higher plants
of which 450 species are threatened. Currently, the number of
species added to the red list category in this region is increasing, and
the valuable genetic resources are being lost at a rapid rate. Demand
for medicinal plants is increasing that leads to unscrupulous
collection from the wild and adulteration of supplies. Providing
high-quality planting material for sustainable use and thereby saving
the genetic diversity of plants in the wild is important. During the
last 25 years of intensive research, Tropical Botanic Garden and
Research Institute has developed in vitro protocol for rapid
regeneration and establishment of about 40 medicinally important
rare and threatened plants of Western Ghats.
