XVI International Botanical Congess

In Peninsular India about 521 plant species are considered rare, of which 410 including 235 endemics belong to Western Ghats. Plants like Solanum indicum (Asthma & leucoderma), Withania somnifera (Rheumatism & Nervous disorders), Baliospermum montane (Jaundice & anemia), Adenia hondala (Rheumatism & diuretic) and Justicia beddomei (Asthma & diarrhoea) are considered rare owing to anthropogenic causes, shrinkage of niches and reproductive inefficiency. In the present study attempts have been made to conserve these species through in vitro propagation and restore them in the natural habitats. Nodal segments and young shoot tips were used as explants for in vitro multiplication. MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of cytokinin like BAP was used for shoot initiation. Regenerated shootlets were excised into single node and multiplied on the same medium supplemented with appropriate concentration of BAP. For root induction, the regenerated shoots were put into the 1/2 MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of auxins. The in vitro seedlings were transferred to mist-chamber for hardening and later reintroduced into the natural habitats.