Collection and Conservation of Major Medicinal Plants of Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh has been identified as one of the "Biodiversity Hotspot" areas in the world. The tribes inhabiting the state recognize over 500 species of plants as having medicinal properties. The authors have conducted field trips in different areas of Arunachal Pradesh covering six western districts during March, 2004- October 2005. In this attempt, they have collected 64 accessions of medicinal and aromatic plants belonging to 46 species distributed over 45 genera and 36 families. The local people were interviewed to get the ethnobotanical information on collected material, including live plants, rhizomes, cuttings, suckers, seeds, etc. The collected materials were also introduced in the Field Gene Bank of the NBPGR Regional Station, Umiam (Meghalaya) for their multiplication and subsequent characterization. The ethno-medicinal aspects of medicinal and aromatic plants, covering their botanical name, local name, habitat, family and uses with active principles, of all the 46 species are presented in the paper. The authors have also emphasized in-situ as well as ex-situ conservation strategies for medicinal plants.