TITLE:
Morphological Diversity and Nomenclature of Swertia chirayita (Gentianaceae)—Recovery of Endangered Medicinal Plant Population in North Eastern Himalaya
AUTHORS:
Soumendra Chakraborty, Dhiman Mukherjee, Sibdas Baskey
KEYWORDS:
A Conservation Model, Endangered Plant, Morphovariants, 5 Groups, 24 Sub-Groups
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.7 No.6,
April
5,
2016
ABSTRACT: Swertia chirayita is a highly endangered
and very well known medicinal plant enlisted in the IUCN list of endangered
plants in the world. The plant is currently having a very low population in eastern
Himalayan region due to its very low germinability in its own natural habitat.
The plant population was found to have a range of diversity in morphological
observations and some of the morphovariants were found to be very low among the
variant populations which created a concern due to its diminishing range of
genetic base in this region. A basic group of 5 morphovariants and 24 sub
variants were identified and separately maintained. It is a pluriannual plant
and reproductive or flowering stage was observed after completion of two years
of vegetative stage from the time of seed germination. A range of morphovariant
diversity was observed in the populations of Neora Valley and Lava region of
eastern Himalaya in our investigation. Diversity was critically observed in
some of the parameters of different morphovariants in the population.
Conservation practices were generally done by not making groups or sub groups
of this endangered plant while we proposed the way of conservation by making
groups for proper conservation of this vulnerable plant.