Paper Title
A Review on Some Threatened Medicinal Plant Species in Chhattisgarh: Therapeutic Potential and Conservation Concerns
Abstract
Medicinal plants are globally valued sources of new pharmaceuticals and health care products. Since ancient
times, medicinal plants have been used as tinctures, poultices, powders, formulations and as pure compounds. Different parts
of these plants like root, shoot, stem, leaves, flowers, bud, etc. are used in treatment of numerous ailments. Chhattisgarh is
known for its remarkably rich bio-cultural diversity. It provides habitat to a significant number of medicinal plants that are
primary source of health care of forest dwellers. In the present scenario, expansion of pharmaceutical industries with
resurgence of public interest in plant based drugs has increased the demand for medicinal plants worldwide. Unfortunately
majority of the exported biomass has been harvested from the wild, often following non-scientific and unsustainable
practices leading to over exploitation that threatens the survival of many rare species. So, many medicinal plant species are
disappearing at an alarming rate. Such constraints have stimulated the concern for plants biodiversity conservation. Present
review is an attempt to document amazing therapeutic potentialities of five threatened medicinal plant species in
Chhattisgarh and conservation concerns.
Keywords - Threatened, Medicinal plants, Therapeutic, Conservation, Chhattisgarh.