The Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area (GHNPCA) is home to several endangered species of plants. The present ethno-medicinal study was carried out in 13 villages of the eco-zone of the GHNPCA and information was gathered through a semi-structured questionnaire survey and interviews of medicinal plant knowledge holders/traditional Vaidyas. A total of 152 medicinal plant species belonging to 62 families and 125 genera were recorded to be used by local inhabitants. List of plants along with uses and other details is provided in the table. The maximum number of plant species (63 spp.) are used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, followed by dermatological problems (59 spp.) and cold and cough (23 spp.). Public awareness/sensitization, education, in-situ & ex-situ conservation efforts and bioprospecting of medicinal plants for new drug development are urgently required for the conservation and sustainable management of medicinal plants resources of GHNPCA.

In the present study, variation in podophyllotoxin content was studied with growth and development in different parts of Podophyllum hexandrum, i.e., leaf lamina, petiole and rootstock using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). It was found that podophyllotoxin content in rootstock and leaf lamina increased with increase in age of the plant while it was recorded vice-versa in petiole of the plant. The rootstock was found to contain the highest content of podophyllotoxin in comparison to other parts.

The paper deals with 43 species of plants used by the tribals of Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh, for curing body pains and swellings. Leaf is used in 13 practices. Litsea deccanensis, Spermacoce pusilla and 21 practices were found to be less known.

Albizia lebbeck is an astringent, used to treat boils, cough, eye flu, gingivitis, lung problems, pectoral problems, as a tonic and to treat abdominal tumors. The main parts used for medicinal purposes are Leaves, Bark, Flowers and Seeds/Pods. But out of these, bark is commercially used in treating many diseases/ailments. To utilize plant parts in pharmacological, anti-microbial and clinical research, it is therefore necessary to identify the active principles (phyto-constituents) and also their possible side effects to enhance product quality. In view of the commercial importance of the tree, an effort has been made to standardize harvesting practices of its bark. The proposed harvesting practices of bark of A. lebbeck may play an important role in maintaining health of tree besides easy extraction of bark.

Antibiotics have made formidable benefactions to human civilization and found extensive usage in infectious disease treatment. However, indiscriminate and overuse of antibiotics have evolved resistant bacterial strains, which is a cause of concern to healthcare set-ups all around the world. This situation has necessitated the need of introducing new antimicrobials or combination therapies. The slow development of novel synthetic antibiotics has diverted the research towards naturally occurring antimicrobial molecules. Plant secondary metabolites, being diverse and distributed across different habitats, provide fair chances for the exploration and discovery of novel antimicrobials, mainly due to the huge reservoir of phytochemicals produced like alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and phenolic compounds. The North-Western Himalaya fosters great diversity of medicinal plants, which present a lucrative bioresource available to be explored for the development of novel antimicrobials or potentiating molecules in combination therapies. This review presents an overview of plant-based antimicrobials reported in recent years, along with their targets and mode of action and provides an appraisal of medicinal plant resource of Pir Panjal Himalayan region, along with their reported antimicrobial phytochemicals, which provides excellent opportunity for further exploration and discovery of novel antimicrobials.

Present study was conducted from warm temperate zone to cold temperate zone covering the altitudinal ranges of 1500 to 2500 m and to study the diversity of plant species in the oak stands of Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand. The altitudinal diversity represents good number of genera and family at all Oak stands, many of them useful in various ways.