IMPORTANCE AND USES OF HERBAL PLANTS FOR OUR SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROWTH

Abstract

Chhattisgarh State has a rich forest, covering 44% of the total geographical area of the state. Hence, Chhattisgarh has been declared as “Herbal State˝, owing to its rich floral diversity and encompassing wealth of invaluable indigenous traditional knowledge base, inherent with tribal folk. The Herbal state of Chhattisgarh is situated in Deccan bio-geographical area, houses an important part of the rich and unique biological diversity. What is more conspicuous is that the state is significantly rich in endemism with respect to many plants having medicinal importance. The forests of the state fall under two major forest types, i.e., Tropical Moist Deciduous forest and the Tropical Dry Deciduous forest. The state of Chhattisgarh is endowed with about 22 varied forest sub-types existing in the state. Sal (Shorea robusta) and Teak (Tectona grandis) are the two major tree species in the state.