To Study the Ethnobotany and Angiospermic Diversity of Kangra District (H.P.)

Abstract

Since long, medicinal plants have been extensively used for treating various diseases both in humans as well as other animals. Kangra is a quiet large district of Himachal Pradesh, where the ethnobotanical studies on medicinal plants is quiet meager, therefore, the proposed research will explore the knowledge about traditional medicinal plants of the district and their uses for treating several diseases. Further, some of the important and rare medicinal plant species will be evaluated for their phytochemical, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities thus, confirming their uses for making certain herbal formulations for the society. The study on ethnobotany of traditional medicinal plants is of both national as well as international importance as it will help to explore the medicinal plant wealth of unexplored Kangra district. The herbal formulations can be prepared after knowing the uses of these species which will be useful for the society to get some independency from allopathic medicines having large number of side effects. The proposed study is relevant to the needs of the immediate environment in terms to reduce dependency on the allopathic medicine even on small diseases. This study also enhances use of medicinal plants to various diseases for preliminary application. The proposed work meet the industry needs as some of the plants which are medicinally important will be extracted and tested in the laboratoryfor the preparation of herbal formulations. Those medicinal herbs can then be collected and supplied to certain pharmaceutical companies for the preparation of other herbal drugs.