Conservation Status of Threatened Ethno-Medicinal Plants in Western Madhya Pradesh, India

The present study was aimed to explore and document the traditional knowledge of plants and to assess the conservation status of ethnomedicinal plants of the study area. The ethnobotanical information was collected through semi-structured interviews and key informant discussion. The data were analyzed through informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (FL). Threat assessment for individual plant species was analyzed by IUCN categories. We documented 68 plant species belonging to 35 families used for treating 25 human ailments. The major mode of administration is decoction (23 species). The highest ICF value is 1 for mouth ulcers whereas lowest ICF is 0.5 for piles. This research classifies 17 species of plants with FLs 100. We also assessed the medicinal plants in various threat categories such as vulnerable (30 species), endangered (28 species) and critically endangered (10 species). The present study documented the traditional uses of threatened medicinal plants, their conservation status and importance of these plants in study area. This study can serve as baseline information on medicinal plants and could be helpful for further strengthen the conservation of this important resources.