BP Singh

Priorities for Promising Introductions of Medicinal,Aromatic, Spices and Condiments GermplasmDeep ChandIntroductionThe importance of medicinal and aromatic plants, spices andcondiments is well recognized since ages. From time immemorial,these were being utilized in Indian systems of medicine. However,concerted efforts were not made for their improvement so far.Many of plants belonging to this group are of Indian origin or havebeen introduced from other parts of the world, mainly from Indo­ClUna, IndoMalaysian, Central Asian, Mediterranean and European­Siberian regions of diversity. Zeven and Zhukovsky (1975)identified twelve centres of diversity of the economic plants. Outof these, Indo-China IndoMalaysian, Hindustani centre, centralAsian, Mediterranean and European-Siberian centres are importantfor more common plants of this group (Table-I).Centres of Diversity in Medicinal and Aromatic PlantsAbout 1100 species are utilized in Indian medicines forproduction of different formulation and most of these still comefrom the wild growth in forests and several are introduced in thepast such as opium poppy, psyllium, senna, cinchona, celery andperiwinkle (Gupta et aI., 1988). For meeting the large demand ofAyurvedic, Unani and Homeo medicines manufacturing industries,it is necessary to introduce more exotic collections from theircentres of diversity. As a result of efforts made throughcorrespondence to the foreign sources, the Division of GermplasmExchange of the Bureau successfully introduc;:ed 1175 {including'