Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Science and Biotechnology

Foreword
Amjad Masood Husaini
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, J&K 191121, India
E-mail: dr.amjadhusaini@hotmail.com
“Man, ever desirous of knowledge, has already explored many things, but more and greater still remains concealed;
perhaps reserved for far distant generations, who shall prosecute the examination of their Creator’s work in remote countries,
and make many discoveries for the pleasure and convenience of life” (Linnaeus, 1754). One such vast unexplored region
and a biodiversity hot spot, lies between two great ancient civilizations of India and China and is famous as “The Great
Himalayan Region”. The main Himalaya range runs west to east, from the Indus river valley to the Brahmaputra river valley,
forming an arc 2,400 km long, which varies in width from 400 km in the western Kashmir-Xinjiang region to 150 km in the
eastern Tibet-Arunachal Pradesh region. The range consists of three coextensive sub-ranges, with the northernmost, and
highest, known as the Great or Inner Himalayas. The ancient religious scripture of Hindus, Atharvaveda is the earliest
celebrated treatise mentioning the use of medicinal plants of the region. Atharvaveda contains 114 hymns or formulations
for the treatment of diseases. Ayurveda, a system of traditional medicine native to the Indian subcontinent, originated in and
developed from these hymns. The Suśruta Saṃhitā and the Charaka Saṃhitā are two important works on this traditional
system of medicine. In addition there is a famous reference in Valmiki’s Ramayana, a religious scripture of Hindus, about
the existence of rare medicinal plant Sanjivani (Selaginella bryopteris) in Himalayas, which saved the life of Lakshmana
(brother of the Hindu god Lord Rama).
Over the centuries people have depended on these medicinal plants for treating daily ailments like cough, colds,
indigestion, ulcers, sore eyes etc. In fact Sir Lawrence, a British Settlement Commissioner in his book, ‘The Valley of
Kashmir’ (1895) refers to this point as, “when I have made inquiries as to various herbs which I have seen in the valley and
on hillsides, I am always told that they are hot and good for cold humours, cold and good for hot humours, dry and
beneficial to damp humours, damp and beneficial to dry humours.”
In this Special Issue (SI) on Himalayan MAPS, an attempt has been made to present various issues pertaining to
conservation, documentation, biotechnological applications and medicinal uses of plants of Himalayan region. The SI
comprises of 13 research articles related to different areas of plant biotechnology. In the first paper Bantawa et al. take-up
an important highly valued endangered medicinal plant of Indo-China Himalayas viz. Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora Pennell
and describe in detail its micropropagation. This study is first such report on this plant and illustrates the usefulness of
additives for mass propagation and germplasm conservation. In a similar study Hamid et al. describe a method for in vitro
shoot organogenesis of Cichorium intybus using shoot tips as explants. Cichorium intybus is known for its anti-cancerous
and anti-hepatotoxic properties and their successful transfer to pots with 60% survival percentage is a step forward towards
its ex situ conservation. The potential of Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated genetic transformation for the synthesis of
phytomolecules of high pharmaceutical value is well established. Goel et al. present the first report of reserpine production
in quantifiable amounts from the Agrobacterium rhizogenes-generated transgenic hairy roots of Rauwolfia serpentine,
whose root-extracts have been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine. In one clone the reserpine level was found to be 2-
3 times that of field grown roots, which is quite encouraging.
Supply of authentic medicinal plants to herbal drug industry is an important requisite for enabling their commercial use
in production of genuine phytoceuticals. An authentic identification system based on amplified fragment length
polymorphism (AFLP) for Aconitum heterophyllum, A. violaceum, A. balfourii and A. ferox has been reported in an original
research paper by Misra et al., which could be used for checking adulteration-related problems faced by commercial users