Curr Bot ● 2018 ● Vol 9 47 Current Botany 2018, 9: 47-52 doi: 10.25081/cb.2018.v9.3845 https://updatepublishing.com/journal/index.php/cb INTRODUCTION Northwestern Himalayas in India is one of the hotspots of biodiversity due to extensive variation in land-scapes, eco- edaphic conditions, forest types and climatic conditions [1]. It has a rich variety of medicinal & aromatic plants (1748), known globally for their ethnobotany, phytochemical diversity, and pharmacological properties [2]. Unfortunately, continuous exploitation from the wild has depleted their natural populations over the years due to unending demand from industry and local markets [3]. Most of endemic medicinal plants are now facing risk of extinction in their native habitats [1, 4 and 5]. To initiate conservation arrangements for such endangered species, there is urgent need to identify their declining populations in different geographical areas [6]. During last few decades, many medicinal plants have been categorized either as vulnerable, threatened or critically endangered in Kashmir Himalayas like Podophyllum hexandrum, Picrorhiza kurroa, Aconitum heterophyllum, Rheum emodi, Arnebia benthami, Mecanopsis aculeate, Trillium govanianum [5,7 and 8]. Therefore, there is vital need to assess declining populations of these key medicinal plants of Kashmir Himalayas in India. Epimedium elatum (Morren & Decne) is one such medicinal plant of Kashmir valley facing very high extinction risk. It is a medicinal herb (Fig.1), endemic to shady thick forests in India and Pakistan [9-15]. The plant has representative ‘three branches and nine leaves’ morphology in Himalayas, a character universal to all Epimedium species. Traditionally, it has been used in treating many ailments of bone and joint disorders [12]. It contains a high content of key phytochemicals like epimedin B & C, icariin, and icariside-I [11-13 and 16]. Pharmacologically, extracts or chemical components from E.elatum have been assessed for their antimicrobial [10 and 11], antioxidant [11 and 16] and PPAR-γ (peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor-gamma) ligand-binding activities [10]. A perusal of literature indicates that Kashmir Himalayan Dwindling status of Epimedium elatum (Morren & Decne) and its geographical distribution in Kashmir Himalaya, India Sajad Ahmad Lone 1,2 , Saleem Mushtaq 2 , Qazi Parvaiz Hassan 2,4 *, Suphla Gupta 3,4 1 Department of Botany, Govt College for Women, Nawakadal, Srinagar, J&K, 190002, India, 2 Biotechnology division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Sanatnagar, 190005, India, 3 Plant Biotechnology division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu-180001, India, 4 Academy of Scientifc and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Anusandhan Bhawan, New Delhi, 110001, India Received: September 10, 2017 Accepted: November 28, 2017 Published: January 06, 2018 *Corresponding Authors: Parvaiz Qazi, Biotechnology division, CSIR- Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Sanatnagar, 190005, India Email Id: qphassan@iiim.ac.in Sajad Ahmad Lone, Department of Botany, Govt College for Women, Nawakadal, Srinagar, J&K, 190002, India Email Id: Sjdlone46@gmail.com ABSTRACT Epimedium elatum (Morren & Decne) of family Berberidaceace is a rare perennial medicinal plant, endemic to high altitude forests of Northwestern Himalayas in India. Ethnobotanically, it has been used as an ingredient for treatment of bone- joint disorders, impotence and kidney disorders in Kashmir Himalayas. Phytochemically, it is rich in Epimedin ABC and Icariin; all of these have been demonstrated to possess remarkable biological activities like PDE-5 inhibition (treatment of erectile dysfunction), anticancer, antiosteoporosis antioxidant and antiviral properties. The present investigation reports its traditional usage, comprehensive distribution and conservation status from twenty ecogeographical regions in Kashmir Himalayas, India. The species was reported from Gurez valley for the first time. Numerous threats like excessive grazing, deforestration, habitat fragmentation, tourism encroachment, landslides and excessive exploitation have decreased its natural populations in most of the surveyed habitats. Consequently, its existence may become threatened in near future if timely conservation steps are not taken immediately by concerned stakeholders involved in medicinal plant research. Moreover, use of plant tissue culture techniques is recommended for development of its in vitro propagation protocols. Therefore, introduction of this medicinal plant in botanical gardens, protected sites and development of monitoring programmes are needed for its immediate conservation in Northwestern Himalayas, India. KEYWORDS: Icariin, aphrodisiac, kashmir himalayas, conservation, endangered species. ISSN: 2220-4822 Copyright: © 2018 The authors. This article is open access and licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, or format for any purpose, even commercially provided the work is properly cited. 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