Abstract
Coleus barbatus Benth. (Lamiaceae) is an important medicinal herb in the sub-Himalayan tracts of North India. Four major watersheds, namely Chamba, Ghansali, Lambgaon and Pokhal were identified in Tehri Garhwal District during the present investigation and within each watershed various habitats like pine forest, oak forest, open slopes, arable land and abandoned cultivated areas were selected. Through random quadrat sampling data was collected and the population of C. barbatus was calculated. Banj oak and chir pine forests had least population of C. barbatus (< 0.1 individual’s m-2 and 0.1 individuals m-2, respectively). The habitats like open chir pine forest (3.9 individual’s m-2), open grasslands (2.4 individuals m-2), arable lands (3.2 individuals m-2) and abandoned cultivated areas (3.3 individuals m-2) supported good population of C. barbatus. The conservation measures are discussed in the paper.
Highlights
Coleus barbatus Benth. (Lamiaceae) is an important medicinal herb, commonly distributed in the sub-Himalayan tracts of North India and Deccan Peninsula [1,2,3]
The density of Coleus barbatus was highest in open Chir-Pine forest (3.9 individuals m2) followed by Abandoned cultivated areas (3.4 individuals m-2), Arable lands (3.38 individuals m-2), Open Slope (2.4 individuals m-2), Chir -Pine forest (0.13 individuals m-2) and Banj oak forests (0.05 individuals m-2)
The values of A/F ratio suggests that the Coleus barbatus was randomly distributed in arable lands, open slopes, open Chir pine forest and abandoned cultivated areas with the value recorded around 5 in these habitats
Summary
Coleus barbatus Benth. (Lamiaceae) is an important medicinal herb, commonly distributed in the sub-Himalayan tracts of North India and Deccan Peninsula [1,2,3]. C. barbatus is known with the name ‘Bander-jadi’ in Pauri Garhwal (Figure 1). In Ayurvedic system of medicine, the stem and roots of Coleus barbatus (Trade name: Patherchur and Sanskrit name: Pashanbhedi) used to cure gastric problems, hypertension, glaucoma, inflammation and piles. The extract of root is used as antihelmintic and flowers are known to be good source of nectar for honey bees [2], whereas in Tehri Garhwal the root paste is used to cure external wounds. As the root of this plant contains active compounds like carbacrol, thyomol, siniaol and ugenol, used as important drug for curing the urinary diseases and cancer, while forskoline is a diterpene used in the treatment of hypertension, heart failure and asthma [8,9,10,11,12]. The present study deals with its current status and distribution pattern in the wild in Tehri District, Uttarakhand
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