Some Important Medicinal Plants of Cold Desert Regions of District Kinnaur of Himachal Pradesh State in India: Their Uses and Chemical Ingredients

Himalayan region including cold deserts has the richest medicinal plant resource of India. More than 50% medicinal plants traditionally used in India come from the Himalayan region. During the field studies of cold deserts of Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, India about 113 plants of medicinal value were documented. This article highlighted the information on habitat, plant parts used, uses and chemical ingredient of 22 most important medicinal plant species. Out of 22 plant species, 11 i.e. Aconitum heterophyllum, Arnebia euchroma, Betula utilis, Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Ephedra gerardiana, Hippophae rhamnoides, Hyssopus officinalis, Hyoscyamus niger, Jurinea dolomiaea, Picrorhiza kurroo, Rhododendron campanulatum fall in the category of threatened plants. The rarity in these medicinal plants is due to habitat alteration, narrow range of distribution, over grazing and over harvesting. The better conservation of natural resources can be done by inclusion of a section on the conservation of rare and endangered medicinal plants in the wild life protection act, promotion of community based conservation, In-situ conservation through the establishment of nature reserves, Ex-situ conservation through tissue culture and developing medicinal plant nurseries.