Phytochemical Insights and Conservation of Endangered Medicinal Plants from the Western Himalayas
Ekta Rana
Forest Product Utilization CoF, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Ranichauri, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, 249199, India.
Yogesh Y. Sumthane *
Department of Forest Production CoF, Banda University of Agriculture and Technilogy, Banda, 210001, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The Western Himalaya is a biodiversity hotspot with many ecological, cultural, and pharmacological significance of medicinal plants. However, their survival is under threat by habitat destruction, overexploitation, and climate change. The paper, rather, provides information on the phytochemical wealth and the pharmacological potential of significant. Himalayan medicinal plants based on their medicinal uses. It also highlights more important threats to the medicinal plants’ diversity and conservation measures which include sustainable harvesting, cultivation, and policy initiatives. The paper concludes that traditional knowledge system and scientific methodologies should be integrated in the right conservation and promotion of sustainable management practices. It is, therefore, important to conserve these plants for the eco-balance and future drug discovery.
Keywords: Medicinal plants, western Himalayas, phytochemicals, conservation strategies, sustainable harvesting