Ethno Botany of Some of The Medicinally Important Threatened Plants of Kashmir Himalayas, India.

A survey for medicinally important threatened plants was carried out in the hilly and mountainous areas of district Ganderbal (Kashmir Himalayas), to document the diversity of traditional health care remedies currently practiced by the local people. The study was aimed at exploring the medicinal importance of threatened plants and the main causes behind their threat status which has till date remained unexplored. The study in addition to ethno medicinal importance recorded that these plants inhabit eco-edaphically diverse habitats ranging from plane areas through kandi (hilly areas) upto sub-alpines and alpines, at an elevation range of about 1550-4500m absl. In the recent past, the ever increasing human actions, overexploitation, illegal smuggling, excessive use in the traditional health care system, ayurvedic and unani medicinal system together with habitat destruction and their innate sensitiveness have rendered them rare and threatened. This necessitates a thorough study of threatened medicinal plants of Kashmir Himalayas to pave way for their conservation.