~ 44 ~ Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies 2021; 9(4): 44-50 ISSN (E): 2320-3862 ISSN (P): 2394-0530 www.plantsjournal.com JMPS 2021; 9(4): 44-50 © 2021 JMPS Received: 19-05-2020 Accepted: 21-06-2021 Abdul Hadi Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal Srinagar, India Seema Singh Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal Srinagar, India Corresponding Author: Abdul Hadi Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal Srinagar, India Ethno-botanical studies of some threatened medicinal plants and local perception of its population decline in Kargil, Ladakh UT Abdul Hadi and Seema Singh DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/plants.2021.v9.i4a.1311 Abstract Kargil lies in the Trans-Himalayan region between 32°15`- 34°56`N latitude and 75°35`- 76°57` E longitude covering a geographical area of 14,086 Km 2 has a vast diversity of aromatic and medicinal plants. The traditional uses of medicinal plants to cure various ailments in the Kargil district have been practiced from ancient times. The present study was conducted to validate the information on ethnobotanical studies of some threatened medicinal plants in the region and local people’s perception of its population decline. Therefore extensive field survey was conducted in a different region of district Kargil of Ladakh UT from May 2015- September 2020 to observe the habitat, altitudinal ranges, flowering, traditional uses of threatened medicinal plants, and the factors which are operating for the depletion of these important taxa from their natural habitat. Interviews were conducted in Local languages from more than 1000 informants as the corresponding author is a native of the study area. A total of 22 threatened plant species (21Angiosperms, 1 gymnosperm) belongings to 17 genera, 14 families were traditionally used tribal peoples of the valley to cure various ailments. Most of the threatened taxa belong to the family Ranunculaceae followed by Asteraceae. From local people’s perception, land-use change, illegal exploitation, and the selling of plant parts in the black market are the worst threat to the depletion of these species. Significance Statement: The flora of Ladakh is crying for Conservation due to factors such as climate change, bio-piracy, smuggling, pre maturation harvesting pressure, poverty, unemployment, human interference which leads to their extinction in the near future. Therefore it’s very pertinent to develop conservation strategies and adopt Sustainable utilization practices. For this mass awareness programs on sustainable utilization and conservation of these threatened medicinal plants need to be conducted by involving various stakes-holders, universities, colleges, schools, and other various government and non- governmental organizations. Keywords: Threatened plants, Kargil ethno-botany local perception conservation approaches. 1. Introduction World Health Organization estimates that more than 75-80% population of the developing world depends on traditional medicine for primary healthcare [1, 2] . WHO recorded more than 20,000 plant species globally used as medicine [3] . Medicinal plants also become a source of income for millions of people. Ethno-medicine has kept its fame in all regions of the developing world and its use is tremendously increasing in industrialized countries [4] . Ladakh is a newly formed Union Territory (5 th August 2019) separated from the state of Jammu & Kashmir. It is considered as the “cold desert of India” due to its unique topographic, physiographic, and climatic conditions. It consists of two districts viz; Leh and Kargil which covers an area of more than 78,000 Km 2 which lies between 32°15`50 – 34°38`11 N latitudes and 75°36`73 - 78° 22`11 E longitudes at an altitude of 2700- 7560m [5-7] . Kargil lies in the Trans-Himalayan region between 32°15`- 34°56`N latitude and 75°35`- 76°57` E longitude covering a geographical area of 14,086 Km 2 possess huge diversity of temperate, alpine, and subalpine flora. Ethnobotanically Ladakh is explored by various authors such as [8-12] . However, they stick to the specific ethnic group. Kargil district is the ethnobotanical least explored region of Ladakh despite being vast socio-cultural and religious diversity. Besides this maximum floristic diversity in Ladakh are occurred in the Kargil district. Therefore in this present work, an attempt has been made with the assistance and collaboration of local peoples, herbalists, old aged peoples and herbal experts of various social and cultural tribes of Kargil