Medicina Tradicional y Naturopatía Clínica

Abstracto

The Role of Plants in Human Welfare

Farhana Ijaz, Zafar Iqbal, Inayat Ur Rahman, Niaz Ali, Ghulam Qadir, M. Azhar Khan, Aziz-ud-Din, Abbas H. Shah, Imtiaz Ali, Saddam Hussain, Anees Khan, Muzammil Shah and Wasaf Sadiq

After literature survey, the ethno-botanical information reveals that plant species are widely used throughout the world for different purposes like for instance medicine, edible fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, fencing, fuel wood, timber wood, fodder, agricultural tools and structural materials etc. Whereby all the growth forms like herbs, shrubs, trees, climbers, epiphytes and trailers plays their role. Nonetheless, the most important concern is that most plant species due to their dire need, improper collection, overgrazing, deforestation, pollution and other anthropogenic influences are proceeding towards the door steps of IUCN categories. For example, some of the very important and precious medicinal plants like Valeriana jatamansi, Acorus calamus, Podophyllum hexandrum and Poeonia emodi are threatened due to their unwise collection by the residents for medicinal purposes. So, it could be concluded and recommended that during field visits conservation status of such important plant species must be kept in mind to conserve their generation and biodiversity for future.