Diversity, indigenous uses and traditional practices of dye yielding plants in Central Himachal Pradesh, North western Himalaya

560-564The present paper is an attempt to assess the diversity and document the indigenous uses and traditional practices of dye yielding plants in Central Himachal Pradesh North Western Himalaya. A total of 17 species of dye yielding plants belonging to 13 families and 17 genera were recorded. These species are used to dyeing clothes and other items. Different plant parts were utilized, of which fruit (07 spp.) was used in the majority, followed by flowers (05 spp.); bark (04 spp.) and leaves (03 spp.) Information on indigenous uses and traditional practices was documented with the help of local inhabitants. Natural dye yielding plants have immense significance in the socio-economic and socio-cultural aspects of the inhabitants. The indigenous knowledge of extractions, processing and practices of in situ and ex situ conservation of the species; natural dyes has declined to a great extent. Therefore, to maintain dye yielding plant wealth, awareness among the inhabitants; involvement of local inhabitants and Forest Department about the indigenous uses and traditional practices have been suggested

Diversity, distribution pattern and traditional knowledge of sacred plants in Kanawar Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS), Himachal Pradesh, Northwestern Himalaya

642-651Himachal Pradesh, the mountainous part of Indian Himalayan Region, also referred as Dev Bhoomi, is famous for its religious culture and traditions. People from the state are highly religious and believe that the plants which are sacred to the Gods and Goddess also have vast medicinal potential. Hence, the present study has been carried out to investigate diversity, distribution pattern and traditional knowledge of sacred plants by the native communities of Kanawar Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS), Himachal Pradesh. The study revealed that 33 species (trees 06; shrubs 16; herbs 11) belonging to 29 genera and 22 families were being used in numerous religious ceremonies and also as folk medicine by indigenous people of the KWLS. Of the total, 20 species were native and 01 was endemic to the Himalayan region. It was found that leaves of 17 species, flowers of 11 species and whole plant of 8 species were used, extensive use of which may lead to decrease in their population to a great extent. Therefore, there is an utmost need to develop a proper management plan and appropriate strategy for the conservation and sustainable utilization of such sacred plants, so that their population could be maintained for posterity

Ethnobotany in the Nepal Himalaya

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Indigenous knowledge has become recognized worldwide not only because of its intrinsic value but also because it has a potential instrumental value to science and conservation. In Nepal, the indigenous knowledge of useful and medicinal plants has roots in the remote past.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The present study reviews the indigenous knowledge and use of plant resources of the Nepal Himalayas along the altitudinal and longitudinal gradient. A total of 264 studies focusing on ethnobotany, ethnomedicine and diversity of medicinal and aromatic plants, carried out between 1979 and 2006 were consulted for the present analysis. In order to cross check and verify the data, seven districts of west Nepal were visited in four field campaigns.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In contrast to an average of 21–28% ethnobotanically/ethnomedicinally important plants reported for Nepal, the present study found that up to about 55% of the flora of the study region had medicinal value. This indicates a vast amount of undocumented knowledge about important plant species that needs to be explored and documented. The richness of medicinal plants decreased with increasing altitude but the percentage of plants used as medicine steadily increased with increasing altitude. This was due to preferences given to herbal remedies in high altitude areas and a combination of having no alternative choices, poverty and trust in the effectiveness of folklore herbal remedies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Indigenous knowledge systems are culturally valued and scientifically important. Strengthening the wise use and conservation of indigenous knowledge of useful plants may benefit and improve the living standard of poor people.</p

Finding Diagnostically Useful Patterns in Quantitative Phenotypic Data.

Trio-based whole-exome sequence (WES) data have established confident genetic diagnoses in ∼40% of previously undiagnosed individuals recruited to the Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) study. Here we aim to use the breadth of phenotypic information recorded in DDD to augment diagnosis and disease variant discovery in probands. Median Euclidean distances (mEuD) were employed as a simple measure of similarity of quantitative phenotypic data within sets of ≥10 individuals with plausibly causative de novo mutations (DNM) in 28 different developmental disorder genes. 13/28 (46.4%) showed significant similarity for growth or developmental milestone metrics, 10/28 (35.7%) showed similarity in HPO term usage, and 12/28 (43%) showed no phenotypic similarity. Pairwise comparisons of individuals with high-impact inherited variants to the 32 individuals with causative DNM in ANKRD11 using only growth z-scores highlighted 5 likely causative inherited variants and two unrecognized DNM resulting in an 18% diagnostic uplift for this gene. Using an independent approach, naive Bayes classification of growth and developmental data produced reasonably discriminative models for the 24 DNM genes with sufficiently complete data. An unsupervised naive Bayes classification of 6,993 probands with WES data and sufficient phenotypic information defined 23 in silico syndromes (ISSs) and was used to test a "phenotype first" approach to the discovery of causative genotypes using WES variants strictly filtered on allele frequency, mutation consequence, and evidence of constraint in humans. This highlighted heterozygous de novo nonsynonymous variants in SPTBN2 as causative in three DDD probands

The 2024 Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa

With the simultaneous growth in interest from the mycological community to discover fungal species and classify them, there is also an important need to assemble all taxonomic information onto common platforms. Fungal classification is facing a rapidly evolving landscape and organizing genera into an appropriate taxonomic hierarchy is central to better structure a unified classification scheme and avoid incorrect taxonomic inferences. With this in mind, the Outlines of Fungi and fungus-like taxa (2020, 2022) were published as an open-source taxonomic scheme to assist mycologists to better understand the taxonomic position of species within the Fungal Kingdom as well as to improve the accuracy and consistency of our taxonomic language. In this paper, the third contribution to the series of Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa prepared by the Global Consortium for the Classification of Fungi and fungus-like taxa is published. The former is updated considering our previous reviews and the taxonomic changes based on recent taxonomic work. In addition, it is more comprehensive and derives more input and consensus from a larger number of mycologists worldwide. Apart from listing the position of a particular genus in a taxonomic level, nearly 1000 notes are provided for newly established genera and higher taxa introduced since 2022. The notes section emphasizes on recent findings with corresponding references, discusses background information to support the current taxonomic status and some controversial taxonomic issues are also highlighted. To elicit maximum taxonomic information, notes/taxa are linked to recognized databases such as Index Fungorum, Faces of Fungi, MycoBank and GenBank, Species Fungorum and others. A new feature includes links to Fungalpedia, offering notes in the Compendium of Fungi and fungus-like Organisms. When specific notes are not provided, links are available to webpages and relevant publications for genera or higher taxa to ease data accessibility. Following the recent synonymization of Caulochytriomycota under Chytridiomycota, with Caulochytriomycetes now classified as a class within the latter, based on formally described and currently accepted data, the Fungi comprises 19 Phyla, 83 classes, 1,220 families, 10,685 genera and ca 140,000 species. Of the genera, 39.5% are monotypic and this begs the question whether mycologists split genera unnecessarily or are we going to find other species in these genera as more parts of the world are surveyed? They are 433 speciose genera with more than 50 species. The document also highlights discussion of some important topics including number of genera categorized as incertae sedis status in higher level fungal classification. The number of species at the higher taxonomic level has always been a contentious issue especially when mycologists consider either a lumping or a splitting approach and herein we provide figures. Herein a summary of updates in the outline of Basidiomycota is provided with discussion on whether there are too many genera of Boletales, Ceratobasidiaceae, and speciose genera such as Colletotrichum. Specific case studies deal with Cortinarius, early diverging fungi, Glomeromycota, a diverse early divergent lineage of symbiotic fungi, Eurotiomycetes, marine fungi, Myxomycetes, Phyllosticta, Hymenochaetaceae and Polyporaceae and the longstanding practice of misapplying intercontinental conspecificity. The outline will aid to better stabilize fungal taxonomy and serves as a necessary tool for mycologists and other scientists interested in the classification of the Fungi

The topographic evolution of the Tibetan Region as revealed by palaeontology

The Tibetan Plateau was built through a succession of Gondwanan terranes colliding with Asia during the Mesozoic. These accretions produced a complex Paleogene topography of several predominantly east–west trending mountain ranges separated by deep valleys. Despite this piecemeal assembly and resultant complex relief, Tibet has traditionally been thought of as a coherent entity rising as one unit. This has led to the widely used phrase ‘the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau’, which is a false concept borne of simplistic modelling and confounds understanding the complex interactions between topography climate and biodiversity. Here, using the rich palaeontological record of the Tibetan region, we review what is known about the past topography of the Tibetan region using a combination of quantitative isotope and fossil palaeoaltimetric proxies, and present a new synthesis of the orography of Tibet throughout the Paleogene. We show why ‘the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau’ never occurred, and quantify a new pattern of topographic and landscape evolution that contributed to the development of today’s extraordinary Asian biodiversity

Diversity, indigenous uses and conservation status of medicinal plants in Manali wildlife sanctuary, North western Himalaya

439-459In the moutaineous regions human populations are dependent on plants for their sustenance particularly for medicine. In India, more than 95% of the total medicinal plants used in preparing medicines by various industries are harvested from wild. There is a great need to recognise the potential of bioresources at their fullest. Therefore, the present study focused to assess the medicinal plants diversity in Manali wildlife sanctuary of North western Himalaya, identify species preference, native, endemic and threatened medicinal plants and suggests conservation measures. A total of 270 medicinal plants belonging to 84 families and 197 genera were recorded. Maximum medicinal plants were reported in the altitudinal zone, 2000-2800 m and decreased with increasing altitude. Out of the total, 162 medicinal plants were native and 98 were endemic to the Himalayan region. Maximum species were used for stomach problems, followed by skin, eyes, blood and liver problems. Thirty seven species were identified as threatened. Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Aconitum heterophyllum, Arnebia benthamii, Lilium polyphyllum, Swertia chirayita, Podophyllum hexandrum, Jurinella macrocephala, Taxus baccata subsp. wallichiana, etc. were highly preferred species and continuous extraction from the wild for trade has increased pressure which may cause extinction of these species in near future. Identification of active ingredients and mass multiplication of the potential species have been suggested in view of economic importance. Regular monitoring of populations and habitats of threatened medicinal plants, restricted harvesting and habitat protection are suggested. </span