Conservation of medicinal plants located in Western Ghats, India

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.