Conservation-omics of medicinal plants: From botanical gardens to herbarium and museum of plant illustrations Balkrishna Acharya, Mishra Shalini, Kumar Ashwani*, Arya Vedpriya**, Gautam Ajay Kumar, Sharma Gunjan, Abel Ira, Kushwaha Arun Kumar, Joshi Bhasker Patanjali Herbal Research Department, Patanjali Research Institute, Haridwar-249405, Uttarakhand, India *Corresponding author e-mail: dr.ashwanikumar@patanjali.res.in
**vedpriya.arya@patanjali.res.in
Online Published on 30 November, 2022. Abstract Emerging diseases, unethical exploitations and a shift toward using herbal remedies have made medicinal plant diversity more vulnerable. Most species are on the verge of being extinct because of huge industrial demand. There is a growing need to preserve medicinal plants, and in this regard, establishment of botanical gardens are getting momentum for setting the foundation. Since incorrect identification of plant species might have cause fatal health consequences, it is imperative to develop standard and authentic herbaria and a museum of plant illustrations together with accurate baseline data. Patanjali Herbal Garden and Patanjali Research Foundation has initiated a mega task in establishment of Herbal Herbarium for the preservation, restoration, and identification of medicinal plants. One of the accomplishments of Patanjali Herbal Garden is the Golden Book of World Records for the First Ayurvedic museum (for highlighting diverse ayurvedic practices) and medicinal plant species in a herbal garden. The Patanjali's museum of plant illustration has a unique entity worldwide with 30000 canvas paintings and 35000 line diagrams of different medicinal plants of the world. Subsequently, Patanjali Research Foundation Herbarium is accredited by Index Herbariorum, New York Botanical Garden, USA. It currently indexed 13,550 specimens of Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, and Angiosperms. This novel heritage of Patanjali can be utilized as a center of excellence for the documentation, research reference, data storage, education, herbal identification, conservation, and other scientific document uses. Top Keywords Medicinal plants, Conservation, Botanical gardens, Herbaria, Botanical illustrations. Top |