THREATENED (MEDICINAL) PLANTS OF ANDHRA PRADESH

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1 THREATENED (MEDICINAL) PLANTS OF ANDHRA PRADESH Preface Introduction Conservation CONTENTS 1. Red listed species (110 spp). 2. Endemic and red listed species occurring in M.P.C.A. s (58 spp). 3. Plants of Botanical Value (9 spp) 4. Medicinal Orchids (20 spp) 5. Medicinal Ferns (9 spp) 6. Mangroves of Coringa MPCA (32 spp). 7. Negative list of export and import policy, Plants and the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 9. National and State symbols of India (58 spp). 10. IUCN Red list categories References 1

2 PREFACE The booklet is focus on threatened (medicinal) plants of Andhra Pradesh in particular and India in general. It provides base line information on red listed species available in the State, endemic and red listed species, medicinal Orchids and Ferns occurring in eight selected MPCA s (Mallur of Warangal, Sukkumamidi of Khammam, Maredumilli and Coringa of East Godavari, Lankapakalu of Visakhapatnam, Peddacheruvu of Kurnool, K.Kuntlapalli of Anantapur and Talakona of Chittoor districts). This booklet is compiled based on the data published by BSI, FRLHT and of other authors and Field study of the botanists of MPCC, Hyderabad in order to generate interest in the botanists, foresters, researchers, and environmentalists to initiate further work in the field of Biodiversity conservation. It is hoped that this booklet will be useful in planning the effective conservation (insitu and exsitu) and research programmes and for knowledge of people in the State of Andhra Pradesh. We express our sincere thanks to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, and Forest Officers who helped in establishment and study of MPCA s with a special mention to Sri K.S.Rao IFS Nodal Officer for Medicinal Plants, Andhra Pradesh and Dr. M.R. Bhanja IFS, Conservator of Forests, Rajahmundry Circle. We are grateful to Dr. Vatsavaya S. Raju, Associate Professor, Kakatiya University for his guidance and criticism. We wish to thank Prof. R.S. Rao, Dr. G.V. Subbarao, Dr. Almeida, Dr. K. Hemadri, Prof. R.R. Venkata Raju, Dr. G.V.S. Murthy, Sri R.K. Premnath, Dr. Y.N.R. Varma and Dr. G. Bagyanarayana for healthy encouragement and valuable suggestions. We dedicate this booklet to the bare foot Botanists who helped us in the field in exploration of species by way of identifying species by local name and expressed their valuable ethnobotanical knowledge. C. S. Reddy K.N. Reddy S.N. Jadhav 2

3 Introduction The State of Andhra Pradesh (The land of Telugu people) is situated in the middle of eastern half of the Indian Peninsula lying between ' ' N latitudes and ' ' E longitudes. It is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, Tamil Nadu in the south, Karnataka in the west, and Maharashtra, Chattisgadh and Orissa in the north. Administratively, Andhra Pradesh has 23 districts, which were grouped into three zones: (1) Circars or Coastal Andhra with nine distrcts, (2) Rayalaseema with four Ceded districts (3) Telangana (Deccan or erstwhile Nizam's Dominions of Hyderabad State) with ten districts. Geographically, the State is categorized into three regions, namely: (1) the Coastal Plains, (2) the Eastern Ghats, and (3) the Deccan Plateau. The wide range of topography and other physical features of the State, provided by the hills raising from almost sea level to about 1500-m altitude, shaped the land to harbour rich and varied flora. The total forest area of the State is 63, sq km which occupies % of the total geographical area of 275, 068 sq km. The forests in the State are broadly classified into Dry deciduous, the Moist deciduous and Semi-evergreen types. Besides, there are mangroves, other subsidiary and seral types spread over limited areas. In the Flora of Andhra Pradesh, Pullaiah & Chennaiah (1997) enumerated the presence of 2531 species. Recently, Ch.S. Reddy & V.S. Raju (2001) enlisted about 400 endemic taxa of Peninsular India occurring in Andhra Pradesh. In these 55 (endemic) taxa are recorded as additions to the State. According to FRLHT database there are 1700 species of medicinal plants are found in the State. Our field study brings to light the presence of 674 species (of these 586 medicinal), 50 endemic and red listed medicinal plants in 8 MPCA s of Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly, we have collected 6 species as new records to the Flora of Andhra Pradesh and 20 species of Orchids and 9 species of Ferns, which are used by ethnic groups. Photographs were taken in every field visit for reference. 3

4 While doing scientific study of vegetation, belt transect method is followed. Fieldwork was done in all MPCAs in every season to collect the species for identification and herbarium documentation. In villages near to MPC Areas the Local Management Committee is formed to conserve the forest and regulate the utilization of the resources on sustainable basis. LMC s are also maintaining the Peoples Biodiversity Register. Ethnobotanical information was gathered from old aged herbal practitioners who resided near by MPCA s. Conservation : A need At present conservation is a worldwide problem. A large number of plants and animals have little future. According to IUCN Threatened Plants Committee about 10% (20,000 30,000) of the World s Flowering plants are dangerously rare or under threat. As per conservative estimates at least 10% of Indian Flowering plants (ca 2000 species) remains under threat and about 25% (ca 5000 species) become rare by the year On geological time scale the evolution of new taxa and extinction of the existing ones in somewhat balanced proportions have been taking place. Some of the taxa have disappeared from the earth in nature's own process of evolutionary change. It was estimated that 1 species would extinct for every 1000 years. But, human interference speeded up the natural process, now it is estimated that 1 species is extinct every year. The State has lost its once rich and luxuriant forests due to deforestation for extensive agriculture, biotic disturbance, plantation programmes, podu cultivation, mining, quarrying, destructive & unscientific extraction of NTFP by villagers etc.,. Competition from alien weedy species like Hyptis suaveolens, Eupatorium odoratum, Lantana camara, Parthenium hysterophorus, Prosopis chilensis, and Eichhornia crassipes are adversely affecting the distribution of the indigenous flora. Hence to safeguard the threatened species, one has to protect their natural habitats. It is therefore suggested that the forests needed special protection to preserve the wealth of Biological diversity for the future. A modest beginning has started recently by opening Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre (MPCC) at Hyderabad and selection of eight Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCA s) in the forests of high Biodiversity in the State, with the active involvement of Forest Department & FRLHT, which is supported by the aid from UNDP and MoEF. 4

5 The MPCAs in the State, along with number of species identified and species of medicinal value is stated below. MPCA District No. of species No. of medicinal identified plant species Mallur Warangal Sukkumamidi Khammam Maredumilli East Godavari Coringa East Godavari Lankapakalu Visakhapatnam Peddacheruvu Kurnool K.Kuntlapalli Anantapur Talakona Chittoor We have identified 674 species in 8 MPCAs from sea level (Coringa) to 1150-m altitude (Lankapakalu). Out of this 586 are found to have medicinal value as per Indian system of medicine and Folk medicine practiced locally. The threatened (medicinal) plant species available in the State of Andhra Pradesh are given in the booklet, which requires attention of Botanists, Scientists, Foresters, environmentalists, Industrialists and user groups for their conservation. There is a need for an intensive survey of the plant wealth in the forests of the State, for their insitu and exsitu conservation. Creating environmental awareness among the local people about the precious value of plants and try for the declaration of the many more MPCA s to cover complete medicinal plant flora of Andhra Pradesh. This is the need of the present time. The biology of endemic and red listed species should be critically studied so as to assess their ecological amplitude and accord legal protection to these species. Prime objective of all concerned should be to conserve the genetic resources for future generations. 5

6 Future lines of work Following points are need to be critically studied for the threatened species for contributing to research on their conservation. 1. To find out which taxa are endemic. 2. Whether any of the red listed species are found in the study area. 3. Whether any of these species are of commercial importance. 4. Detailed data on their distribution. 5. Data on their past distribution. 6. Causes of threat 7. Detailed data on the biology of those species. 8. Suggested measures for conservation. 9. Herbarium record. 10. Attention on phytosociology and habitat. 11. Cultivation practices. 12. Practices of species exploitation from wild. 13. Find out sustainable practices of extraction. 14. Study of biotic and abiotic pressures. 15. Conservation of its germplasm in gardens and laboratories. 16. Detailed data for its inclusion in Red Data Book. 17. Socio-economic development of the study area. 18. Effect of exotics. 19. Discouragement of monoculture introduction. 20. Applied research. 21. Mapping of the localities. 6

7 References Gamble, J.S. & Fischer, C.E.C Flora of the Presidency of Madras. London. (Rep. ed BSI, Calcutta). Karthikeyan, S. (1981). Endemic grasses of India with an emphasis on rare, indeterminate and extinct species. In: S.K. Jain & R.R. Rao (ed.) An Assessment of Threatened Plants of India. pp BSI, Calcutta. Nautiyal, S. & Kaul, A.K. (1999). Forest Biodiversity and its Conservation Practices in India. Oriental Enterprises. Dehra Dun. Rao, R.S., Sudhakar, S. & Venkanna, P. (1999). Flora of East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India. INTACH, Andhra Pradesh State Chapter, Hyderabad. Reddy, Ch.S. (2001). Hybanthus vatsavayii (Violaceae)- A new species from Andhra Pradesh, India. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. 25: (in press). Reddy, Ch.S. & Raju, V.S. (2001). Endemic flowering plants of Andhra Pradesh, Peninsular India. Ind. J. Forestry 24: (in press). Reddy, Ch.S. & Raju, V.S. (2001). Additions to the weed flora of Andhra Pradesh, India. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. 25: (in press). Sarkar, P.K. (1995). Rare, endangered and endemic orchids in India. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. (Addl. ser.) 11: Nayar, M.P. & Sastry, A.R.K. (1987). Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Vol. 1. BSI, Calcutta. 7

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