Inventory of medicinal trees in lower hills of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India Upakar Rai, 1 A.P. Das 2 and Sarnam Singh 3 1 Department of Botany, St. Joseph’s College, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India 2 For Correspondance: Taxonomy &Environmental Biology Lab., Department of Botany, North Bengal University, Siliguri 734013, WB, India. E-mail: apdas.nbu@gmail.com 3 Forestry and Ecology Division, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India Abstract Seven forest types recognised from the tropical and sub-tropical lower hills of Darjeeling district in West Bengal houses a myriad of tree species. Many of these species have potential therapeutic value. Out of the 210 species encountered in the area, 62 species (i.e. 30%) are known to have medicinal values. The numerical strength, distribution, economic potential, use pattern and uses in treating 83 ailments have been highlighted. The potentiality of the study for prioritizing species and habitat for conservation, management along with possibility for carrying out economic activity to benefit the forest dependent communities have been discussed. Keywords: Inventory, Lower hill, Darjeeling Hills, forest types, medicinal tree, conservation INTRODUCTION Among the different habit group of plants, trees form one-third of the total medicinal plants found throughout India (Ved 2006). These are important source of alkaloids, glucosides, essential oils and other physiologically active organic compounds used in treating various ailments. Even today, 70% of the population belonging to 4,000 ethnic communities living in rural India depend on herbal medicine and the tree-species forms significant proportion of the resource (FRLHT, 2006). Many of these medicinal plants can be potential raw material for modern bio-pharmaceuticals and bio-cosmetic industries. Despite their economic importance a baseline data on medicinal tree species is still lacking (Adhikari et al 2003; Bhojvaid 2003; Sarin 2003). Estimation of this valuable resource is critical at this juncture when they are becoming rare and/or extinct. Though, Biswas & Chopra (1956), Rai & Sharma (1996), Rai (2002), Gurung (2002) and Das & Mondal (2003) documented medicinal plants from Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas, but the data related to their basic ecology and natural habitat in general is still lacking (Bhojvaid 2003). Forests are true indicators of ecological setup of an area (Roy et al 2002). Quantification of medicinal tree species with distribution-abundance information to manage them scientifically is a long awaited need. Such study will provide valuable insight for developing strategy for proper management of the resource (Mayers 1992; Sarin 2003; Bhojvaid 2003). Conservation of ecosystems such as forests is linked to their potential as sources of medicines (McClatchey, 2005). Like most others species medicinal trees are also facing threat due to habitat shrinkage and fragmentation and over harvesting (Rai & Sharma 2000; Chettri et al 2005; Larsen 2005; Olsen 2005). Generally, through the destructive mode bark, root, wood and stem are collected from trees. Many of them have high timber value and as such are traded illegally. This dual use has resulted in depletion of wild population and their regeneration is seriously affected (Das 2004). A scientific inventory at this juncture becomes critical for developing appropriate conservation measures. The lower hills of Darjeeling district with its extremely variable habitat support a number of distinct forest types and is one of the richest in terms of tree species diversity (Rai & Das 2004). Almost 30% of the tree species have been found to have medicinal value. The present study is aimed at making an inventory of medicinal tree species with detailed information on the abundance Pleione 2(1): 137 - 146. 2008. © East Himalayan Society for Spermatophyte Taxonomy