Medicinal Plants of District Kupwara Used in the Treatment of Human Diseases and Their Associated Biological Functions

Abstract

Exploration and documentation of plants for novel active ingredients as a means of resource mapping and introduction of new species of plants in new environments are among one of the oldest activities of mankind. Since the beginning of human civilization, researchers have collected much new useful information on plants far away from different geographical locations. With respect to the total land cover, the Kashmir Valleys in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) region of Himalaya are floristically little less explored due to international boarder problems, especially along the LoC regions of India, China, and Pakistan. There is no doubt that the Himalayan ecosystem contains rich resources of unique medicinal and otherwise economically valued plants, and more than 50% of India’s documented biodiversity is from these regions. District Kupwara is one of the twenty-two districts of the J&K Union Territory and is situated in the Northwestern part of the Kashmir Himalayas. Review of literatures and search for deposited herbarium samples in Janaki Ammal Herbarium (RRLH) at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (Jammu) indicated that the Kupwara region is taxonomically very less explored and there is no evidence of plant collection deposited at RRLH. However, since the district is part of the Himalaya, we can predict that it is also a rich repository of biodiversity and has very unique natural resources in the form of food, medicine and otherwise economically beneficial plants. While studying the phytodiversity composition of Kupwara, a total of 159 species of plants with unique constituents of chemical compounds were documented. These medicinal-value species include 17.61% tree species, 5.03% shrub, 75.47% herbs and 1.8% climbers/or lianas. The dominant families include Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Ranunculaceae, Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, Amaranthaceae and Plantaginaceae. Some of the common high-value medicinal plants growing in the region are Artemisia absinthium, Euphorbia wallichii, Rheum australe, Sinopodophyllum hexandrum, Saussurea costus, Taraxacum officinale, Urtica dioica, and several other typical high-altitude Himalayan plant species. These medicinal plants are used in the treatment of obesity, liver infection, diabetes, intestinal infections, rheumatism, tumors, stomach-ache, insomnia, nerve troubles, skin infection, aphrodisiac, memory-related disorders, and asthma. Several studies have highlighted the pharmacological activities of these plants as anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancerous, and other properties that have immense importance in drug research. Therefore, there is an urgent need for proper documentation and research on valuable plants growing in hotspots like Kupwara in the Himalaya and elsewhere across the globe for conservation of biodiversity and for knowledge enrichment through value addition and product development from plants.