Conservation threats to some important medicinal plants of the Sikkim Himalaya

There are records of about 400 plants of therapeutic value in the Sikkim Hi malaya. Indiscriminate and non-systematic collection of medicinal plants ha s led to severe pressure on the availability of these plants, many of which are now rare, threatened or endangered. Six species, are taken as a case s tudy, viz. Aconitum heterophyllum (Wall), Podophyllum hexandrum (Royle), Na rdostachys jatamansi (DC), Picrorhiza kurrooa (Benth), Swertia chirata (Ham ) and Bergenia ciliata (Har.) Stenb. The number of plants collected from th e wild in Sikkim are very high (c. 800,000 A. heterophyllum; 7,700,000 N. j atamansi; 3,100,000 P. kurrooa, and 3,000,000 S. chirata). The six species studied are considered as test cases for successful conservation for the la rge number of species in Sikkim that are claimed to have therapeutic value and whose survival in the wild is threatened. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.