TITLE:
Current Status of Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal: An Endangered Medicinal Plant from Himalaya
AUTHORS:
Sumaira Aslam, Naveed Iqbal Raja, Mubashir Hussain, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ejaz, Danish Ashfaq, Hira Fatima, Muhammad Ali Shah, Abd-Ur-Rehman, Maria Ehsan
KEYWORDS:
Withania somnifera, Endangered, Antimicrobial, Antitumor, Conservation
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.8 No.5,
April
30,
2017
ABSTRACT: Withania somnifera is highly medicinal plant species of Pakistan floristically placed in
the Western Himalayan Province, Himalaya Range of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and in
the Soon valley (Salt Range) of Punjab Pakistan. It grows in high altitude of
5500 feet in the Himalayas. Its English name is Winter Cherry and its Urdu name
is Asghand/Kutilal. It is the low lying shrub of about 1.50 m in height with erect branching. It grows
in dry arid regions of Pakistan, India, China and Bangladesh. Its flowers are
bisexual, small, axillary, greenish, solitary and few-flowered cymes. Chemical
analysis of Ashwagandha showed that it has alkaloids and steroidal lactones (withanolides) as the main chemical constituent. W. somnifera has not yet been assessed for the IUCN Red
List. However, in Pakistan, W. somnifera is falling under criteria A of endangered category. Asghand (W. somnifera) acquires much therapeutic potential which include sedative, narcotic,
thyroid stimulation, anti-inflammatory, hypnotic, anti-stress, general tonic,
diuretic, antimicrobial, and antitumor activities. There are number of threats
responsible for the decrease of W. somnifera number in western Himalayan range and salt range of Punjab Pakistan
which may include deforestation over exploitation and climatic changes.
Conservation strategies need to be adopted for improving the population pool of W. somnifera. There is also the dire need to conserve this important
medicinal plant species with some standard biotechnological approaches
and conservation strategies in future.