Pleione 7(2): 441 - 448. 2013. ISSN: 0973-9467 © East Himalayan Society for Spermatophyte Taxonomy Diversity of Cinnamomum Schaeffer (Lauraceae) in Terai and Duars region of West Bengal, India Dibakar Choudhury 1, 3 , Rajib Biswas 1 , Palash Mandal 2 and A. P. Das 1 1 Taxonomy and Environmental Biology Laboratory & 2 Plant Physiology and Pharmacognosy Research Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of North Bengal, West Bengal, India 3 Corresponding author, E-mail: dcnbu@rediffmail.com [Received 30.09.2013; accepted 14.12.2013] Abstract There are about 250 species in the genus Cinnamomum Schaeffer (Lauraceae), distributed mainly in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Among them, 26 species of Cinnamomum were reported from India. So far there is no comprehensive report published on this genus from Terai and Duars region, which is located at the foot of ‘Himalaya Hotspot’. Present paper reported six species of Cinnamomum from Terai and Duars belt along with their local names, salient features, exsiccatus, status, flowering and fruiting periods and geographic distribution. Key words: Cinnamomum, Terai, Duars, Diversity, Distribution, use. INTRODUCTION The genus Cinnamomum Schaeffer of Lauraceae contains about 250 species which occur naturally in Asia and some in South and Central America, and Australia (Mabberley 2008). Of these about 26 species occur in India (Anonymous 1992). The term Cinnamomum is derived from the Greek word ‘Kinnamomon’ which mean spice (Sharma & Nautiyal 2011). Several species of Cinnamomum are recognized as valuable spices as well as essential oil yielding plants having immense aromatic potential (Baruah 2012). These are mainly used for flavoring food and widely applied in pharmaceutical preparations because of their hypoglycemic, stimulant and carminative properties (Smerq & Sharma 2011). Leaf and bark of various species have astringent, warming stimulant, carminative, blood purifier, digestive, antiseptic, anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-bacterial properties and can help to reduce cholesterol and blood sugar levels (Kamath et al 2003; Mir et al 2004; Jayaprakasha et al 2006; Cheng et al 2006). ‘Camphor’ is derived from C. camphora, employed in pharmaceuticals, especially liniments and insecticides (Seth 2004). So, the genus Cinnamomum is economically very important. Unfortunately, no complete floristic work is presently available which has been performed on these members in Terai-Duars of West Bengal. This region is situated at the foot hill region of ‘Himalaya Conservation Hotspot’ recognized by IUCN and very rich in biodiversity. Generally, the Northern part of West Bengal, west of the river Tista is referred as Terai (25º 57" to 26° 36" N latitude and 89° 54" to 88° 47" E longitude) and Duars (located between 26° 16" to 27° 0" N latitude and 88° 4" to 89° 53" E longitude) is referred to the foot- hill region located on the east of Tista (Ghosh 2006; Roy et al 2009; Das et al 2010).