TITLE:
Ecology and Conservation Status of Threatened Orchid Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D. Don) Soo in Manaslu Conservation Area, Central Nepal
AUTHORS:
Prakash Bhattarai, Bikram Pandey, Raj Kumar Gautam, Rita Chhetri
KEYWORDS:
Anthropogenic, Grazing, Medicinal Plants, Population Density, Threatened
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.23,
November
27,
2014
ABSTRACT: Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D. Don) Soo, commonly known as “Panchaunle”, is an important medicinal plant species distributed throughout the Himalaya region. The present work was conducted in order to assess its availability in natural habitats because of its medicinal properties, cultural significance and declining population density. The work focused primarily on its ecological features and conservation status. The density of D. hatagirea was found to be 2.18 individuals·m-2 with frequency and abundance being 81.81% and 2.67 individuals·m-2, respectively. We considered grazing, trampling, number of cattle and distance to settlement as anthropogenic factors. While grazing and trampling were shown to have a significant, negative impact on population density, we observed no significant change in the number of the species with respect to number of cattle and distance to settlement. We conclude that the species is threatened and that anthropogenic factors have a significant effect on its habitation in the study area.