1 ETHNOBOTANICAL NOTES ON ALPINE MEDICINAL HERBS OF KEDARNATH RANGE OF GARHWAL HIMALAYAS Vaibhav Sharma 1* , B L Sharma 2 and K A Bharati 2 1 Department of Botany, M K R Government Degree College, Ghaziabad, UP E-mail: 1975.vaibhav@gmail.com 2 Department of Botany, N R E C College, Khurja- 203131, UP E-mail: kumaravinashbharati@rediffmail.com ABSTRACT Indigenous methods of treatment using plants are predominated in remote villages of Garhwal Himalayas. This study aims to document information about ethnobotanical information of plants used for the treatment of ailments of human being. Information on the use of plants has been collected from March, 2007 to June, 2010 by semi-structured interview with local people and traditional healers. It has been resulted in documentation of 48 plant species belonging to 21 families used to treat 40 ailments of human being. Regarding the different disease categories the majority of the plants are related to health tonic (10 species) followed by cough &cold, fever, wound (each with 6 species), diarrhea & dysentery, cut & bruises, toothache (each with 4 species), insecticide, dysmenorrhoea, gastric complains (each with 3 species), etc. It is the urgent need of time to document the traditional knowledge since in many regions from where both traditional knowledge and plant diversity are disappearing rapidly. Keywords: Ethnobotany; Kedarnath range; Garhwal Himalayas; Alpine; Medicinal herbs. INTRODUCTION The indigenous knowledge on medicinal plants is gaining worldwide recognition. The World Health Organization has estimated that more than 80% of the world’s population in developing countries depends primarily on herbal medicine for basic healthcare needs (Vines, 2004). Traditional use of plant an plant resources has a long history in Himalayas and its use is rapidly spreading due to having no side-effects, easily available at affordable prices and sometime the *Corresponding author