Diversity, utilization and conservation of ethnomedicinal plants in Devikund - A high altitude, sacred wetland of Indian Himalaya

The Devikund is located in Sunderdunga Valley of Bageshwar District, Uttarakhand, India. The high altitude wetland harbors a number of medicinal plants used in different purposes in traditional healers. A total of 62 medicinal plants have been enumerated in the present communication, with correct binomials, family, life form and local name(s) with detailed ethnomedicinal uses. Out of these enumerated plants, 14 species are categorized under different threat category. The populations of these threatened plants are already depleting from the wild and the inhabiting peoples nearby wetlands are collecting the plants inevitably from the wild locations. It is also necessary to monitor such rare plants to prevent their extinction. The wetland can also be conserved through religious aspects and should be declared as a conservation area, which would lead to the preservation of many important plant species.