The paper throws light on traditional and experimental gardens and discusses their role in preservation and protection of valuable plant resources with special reference to the Experimental Garden at Barapani in Meghalaya.

The cult of worshipping plants as a blessing from God on earth has its roots deep in the history of human civilization. Plants were considered as a solemn symbol that protected and defended man in various ways. Over the centuries, possibly, the world’s first recorded conservation measures were enacted in India by emperor Ashoka, the Great. Later on, the agricultural practices and the other daily chores of primitive man provided definite clues for the significant tradition conservation. However, with the human population increasing manifolds, the production pressure on the land has also increased simultaneously. The enhanced rate of production, exploitation and exhaustion has left us with unabated devastation of resources. Whatever has remained is due to the socio-cultural and religious traditions. Keeping this in mind, the present article is an attempt to have a glimpse into the ethnic, social and religious practices adopted in various parts of the country leading to the conservation of natural wealth.

Days are not quite far when due to wide spread destruction of the green, the environment would be unhealthy for all organisms. Raising awareness for plant conservation among the people is, therefore, a must-do task for all. The authorities of Indian Botanic Garden organise different types of programmes throughout the year for conservation awareness on plant among the masses.

The paper reports an account of the plants of Orissa that are useful for the extraction of homoeopathic drugs. A total of 107 species have been enlisted through literature survey as homoeopathic medicinal plants with their correct nomenclature and local names. These species belong to 97 genera under 48 families. Each species is provided with its place of availability, natural or exotic, chemical property and other information that are useful for homoeopathic pharmaceutical industry.

The present paper mainly deals with the bio-diversity of Hailakandi District and its conservation. The paper also deals with the habitat and distribution of plants in different localities of the district. A large varieties of Pteridophytes and Angiosperms were collected from the natural habitat which exhibits various kinds of diversities. Out of the total 188 plants 43 species were Pteridophytes & 145 species were Angiosperms. The present survey work revealed that amongst the pteridophytes, dominant families are found to be Polypodiaceae and Pteridaceae.On the otherhand, among the Angiosperms, plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, Orchidaceae & Leguminosae (Fabaceae) were dominant in comparison to others. Since the habitat and the plant biodiversity of the area have been degraded in a big way, appropriate conservation measures have been discussed and recommended.

Ethnobotanical survey covering Kalimpong hill subdivision (altitude to 3660 m) in the eastern Himalayan region of India was carried out by the present author during 2004-2006, following standard methods. The herbarium specimens were identified at CAL. Twelve species of flowering plants, widely used in the folk-medicine of this region, are highlighted in this paper. They have a broad spectrum of medicinal uses. New or less known healing applications of these plants were recorded. Such plants are mostly utilized by the Bhutias, Lepchas and Nepalis, the major ethnic communities of Kalimpong hills, bonded together by Nepali language. For each species, family, local names, life-form, altitude range and distribution, flowering and fruiting months, detailed uses, threat status of IUCN and annotations etc are given. Owing to over-exploitation, a number of medicinal and/or economically lucrative species are already under different categories of threat. Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz, has almost disappeared from this area as a result of ruthless exploitation during last twenty years. Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet ssp. indicum, a potent diuretic plant, is now ―extinct‖ in the wild in Kalimpong and adjoining Darjeeling hills, albeit it was abundant there about two decades ago. Several other medicinally important species heavily exploited in the past are: Aconitum bisma (Buch.-Ham.) Rap., Arisaema consanguinatum Schott, Hedychium spicatum Sm., Panax pseudoginseng Wall., Piper longum L., Stephania glabra (Roxb.) Miers etc and consequently they are now threatened. Biopiracy of such important medicinal plants often takes place from this region which must be strictly prohibited. In general, the underground plant parts e.g. root/stem tuber, rhizome, root etc have remarkably high medicinal value. Such plants of Zingiberaceae, Costaceae, Araceae, Araliaceae, Menispermaceae, Ranunculaceae and many other families provide the real medical support in everyday life in the mountainous remote villages where the qualified doctor to people ratio is 1:4892. Its fascinating to see that when the era of ―telemedicine‖ is coming up and probably arrived at the most modern doors, the people living in far-flung Himalayan villages are still healed at nature‘s own dispensary. The information given in this paper will be useful for backing conservation strategies, and facilitate better understanding of phytotherapy research.

Indian Botanic Garden is an unavoidable point of itinerary for native and foreign visitors. It is not only a place of aesthetic beauty to nature lovers but its plant wealth and expertise draws general public, students and researchers all the time alike. Some of its interesting visiting items have been mentioned in the paper.

Flora is one of the important biological, ecological, sociological and edaphic factors of an area. It is essential for sustaining all animal life of an area and also for maintaining heritable environment for that life. Adequate knowledge of flora is necessary for planning sustainable development of that area. The present study focuses on flora of Udayagiri forests located in the northern side of Nellore district

The importance of plant biodiversity and conservation has been shortly discussed in the paper with reference to the role of Botanical Survey of India.

Flora is essential for sustaining all animal life of an area and also for maintaining heritable eenironment for that area. Adequate knowledge of flora is necessary for planning of flora is necessary for planning sustainable development of that area. Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water lagoon after Chilika Lake of Orissa along the east coast of India. Estuaries and lagoons have brackish water which shows high biological productivity than fresh or sea water. Hence it has wide range of aquatic, terrestrial flora and fauna. The World Wide Fund for Nature declared it as a protected area. Present study aims to explore the floristic composition and its conservation methods of Pulicat lake