Variation of chemo-botanical characters in the indigenous collections of Rauvolfia serpentina

The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources undertook the collection of Rauvolfia serpentina L. from its natural habitats in the Western Ghats of the country. The highest range of variation for total root weight/plantand No. of secondary roots/plant was observed in the collections from Coondapur and Conacana regions of Karnataka and Goa, respectively. These two characters contribute to high alkaloid recovery. The Coondapur region gave the highest range (1.58–2.03) of total alkaloids with a mean of 1.81. The same pattern was observed for reserpine content with the range of 0.07–0.24 and mean value of 0.16%. Such chemo-botanical variation in these materials is natural due to their geographic, ecological and topographic variation. On the basis of these studies, it is highly desirable to make more intensive and systematic collection of these types from these regions for conservation and utilization.