Endangered medicinal plants of western ghats: A review

Abstract

India houses about more than a thousand known medicinal plant species. Traditional Indian medicine, also known as Ayurveda, relies heavily on the use of medicinal plants for treating various ailments. They play a major role in our daily lives. The Western Ghats region in India is known for its rich biodiversity resources including a wide variety of medicinal plants. Western Ghats is among the world’s hottest 10 biodiversity hotspots and recently has been added to the world heritage list by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). But as these days most of the important medicinal plants present in Western Ghats are facing serious extinction issues and categorized as endangered plants by IUCN due to overexploitation, deforestation and similar anthropogenic activities. At the same time these IUCN reports on threat status highlights the importance of conserving these assets of nature for the betterment of future generations. This article comprehensively reviews the details about some important medicinal plants and their medicinal uses present in Western Ghats which are classified under endangered category.