Angiospermworld

Category: Lamiaceae

The Himalya Center of Plant Diversity is a narrow band of biodiversity lying on the southern margin of the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountain range with elevations exceeding 8000 m. The plant diversity of this region is defined by the monsoonal rains, up to 10,000 mm rainfall, concentrated in the summer, altitudinal zonation, consisting of tropical lowland rainforests, 100–1200 m asl, up to alpine meadows, 4800–5500 m asl. Hara and co-workers have estimated there to be around 6000 species of higher plants in Nepal, including 303 species endemic to Nepal and 1957 species restricted to the Himalayan range. The Indian Himalaya is home to more than 8000 species of vascular plants of which 1748 are known for their medicinal properties.

Higher plants have played key roles in the lives of tribal peoples living in the Himalaya by providing forest products for both food and medicine. Numerous wild and cultivated plants have been utilized as curative agents since ancient times, and medicinal plants have gained importance recently, not only as herbal medicines, but also as natural ingredients for the cosmetic industry. In this review, we summarize aromatic medicinal plants from Bhutan, Nepal, and the Indian Himalaya of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

  • Slender Wild Basil Clinopodium gracile (Benth.)Kuntze.

    Small perennial herb, slender, stoloniferous; Stem quadrangular, numerous, tufted, erect or procumbent at the base, ascending, 8–30 cm, retrorse, pubescent; Leaves opposite, basal leaves circular-ovate, 1.2–1.5 × 1–1.1 cm, base rounded, apex obtuse, margin remotely crenate, lower and mid stem leaves ovate, 1.5–2.5 × 1–1.5 cm, papery, sub-glabrous, abaxially sparsely hispid on veins, apex obtuse, base rounded to cuneate, margin
    remotely dentate or crenate-serrate, petioles 0.3–1 cm; Inflorescence verticillasters, few-flowered (5–10), lax or
    dense, crowded in short terminal raceme, floral leaves ovate-lanceolate, 0.5–1 × 0.3–0.8 cm, margin serrate, acute; Bract linear, acute, puberulous, much shorter than pedicel; Flower rose-pink, 5–7 × 3–4 mm, pedicel 1–3 mm; Calyx tubular, base rounded, ca. 3–5 mm and declinate in fruit, puberulent or subglabrous, minutely hispid on veins, throat sparsely fine pilose, teeth ciliate, lower two subulate, upper three triangular, reflexed
    in fruit; Corolla ca. 4.5 mm, puberulent; nutlets ovoid, smooth 0.4–0.5 mm (Image 1 and Figure 2). Common name: Calamint, Savory, Slender Wild Basil, Tower Flower.

    Flowering: The flowering has been observed in July.
    Habitat: Stream sides, open grasslands, forest margin, and thickets.

    Location: Chamba, Himachal Pradesh.

    Date of Collection: 27 July 2023.

    Image 1. Clinopodium gracile (Benth.) Kuntze: A—Habit of the plant | B—Stoloniferous root showing root hair (rh) | C—Whole plant revealing
    its vegetatve and reproductve parts | D—Abaxial surface of leaf with leaf petole (lp) | E—Adaxial surface of leaf and inforescence whorl (iw)
    | F—Young shoot displaying foral bud (f) | G—Base of pedicel manifestng bract (br) | H—Calyx portraying its tooth (ct) | I—Vertcillaster
    inforescence exhibitng fower arrangement. © Rimjhim Chandra.